Drie paarden c. 1886 - 1923

George Hendrik Breitner made this drawing of Three Horses with a graphite pencil. It feels like he was trying to capture a fleeting moment, the essence of these animals in a few quick strokes. Look at the texture of the paper, you can almost feel the grain, it is like a subtle echo of the rough and ready marks that give form to the horses. The lines are so sparse and sketchy, you can see how the pencil moved across the surface. He is trying to capture weight and form with only a few marks. And there, on the left, see how one line becomes a back, another a leg, the marks are like a shorthand for the real thing. You could compare this to Degas’ drawings, also fascinated with capturing movement and form with economical means. Art is a language of suggestion, of feeling, more than just seeing.