Twee vrouwen bij de brug over de Prinsengracht te Amsterdam, ter hoogte van de Reestraat c. 1893s - 1903s

This graphite drawing, "Twee vrouwen bij de brug over de Prinsengracht te Amsterdam," was sketched by George Hendrik Breitner. The composition, split across two pages, creates a fascinating tension between the implied space and the flatness of the page. On the right we see a flurry of lines quickly defining figures and the architecture around the bridge, which contrasts sharply with the left page, where only the faintest trace of a matching architectural feature is visible. The sketch captures not just a scene but also a moment. Breitner’s quick marks are less about replicating reality and more about exploring the act of seeing itself. The formal structure here, the interplay between depiction and erasure, reflects a modern preoccupation with capturing the ephemeral and the fragmentary nature of experience. It is in this tension between the seen and the unseen that the artwork's conceptual power lies.