Paardenbeen c. 1886 - 1923

George Hendrik Breitner made this sketch of a horse’s leg with charcoal, its strokes stark against the page. I imagine Breitner, maybe out on location, quickly capturing the form, the weight, the very idea of this limb. Look at the density of the charcoal at the top, how he’s pressed hard to create the darkest darks. I can almost feel the pressure of his hand, the urgent need to get it down, this vision of the animal’s body. And then see how the marks become more diffuse, more suggestive as it comes down the leg. It's about the feeling of the horse, not a literal translation. You know, it's like when I'm working on a painting, there's this moment where the material takes over, the paint sort of leads the way. And you can see that here in the way Breitner uses the charcoal, letting the texture and the grain of the paper become part of the image. It feels like an intimate moment, a glimpse into the artist's process, his thinking, his seeing. It reminds me that we are all learning from each other, riffing on each other's ideas, and pushing the boundaries of what art can be.