Kostverlorenvaart in Amsterdam 1915

Rik Wouters made this ink drawing of the Kostverlorenvaart in Amsterdam, and just imagine him quickly trying to capture the scene with bold, confident lines. The marks almost vibrate on the page, don't they? I wonder what Wouters was thinking as he drew. Was he feeling the energy of the city, the gentle rocking of the boats on the canal? You can see in the way he's rendered the buildings, they almost seem to breathe, like they're alive and part of the hustle and bustle of the city. The lines feel so immediate and direct, it’s like you can see the artist thinking, making decisions in real-time. Wouters was part of a generation of artists who were pushing the boundaries of what painting could be, like Van Gogh or Matisse. They were all in conversation with each other, figuring out new ways to represent the world around them. And when you look at those clouds, you can just see that Wouters was part of that. It's a reminder that art is an ongoing exchange of ideas, each artist building on the work of those who came before.