Gezicht op een gasthuis te Amsterdam, mogelijk het Buitengasthuis c. 1892 - 1923

George Hendrik Breitner made this sketch of a building in Amsterdam, maybe a hospital, using graphite on paper. It’s hard to tell whether this is a preparatory sketch, but to me, it feels like a finished work. I love how the scratching and layering of graphite creates depth and a sense of volume. Look at the bottom of the page – there’s this flurry of lines that almost reads like a signature. It’s raw, immediate, and so full of energy. The texture is palpable; you can almost feel the grain of the paper and the pressure of the graphite. The marks are confident, like Breitner knew exactly what he wanted to capture. This reminds me a little of Cy Twombly, who had that similar way of making marks that are both chaotic and deliberate. Art's not about perfect representation; it's about capturing a feeling, an essence. And Breitner does that so well here, don’t you think?