Gezicht op Grenzach-Wyhlen 1905 - 1909

Willem Cornelis Rip made this pencil sketch, titled 'Gezicht op Grenzach-Wyhlen'. I love the way Rip isn’t trying to give us the whole story, but instead offers these gentle lines that act as breadcrumbs for our imagination. There's a lovely lightness of touch, a real confidence in knowing exactly what to leave out. You can almost feel the movement of his hand as he captured the scene before him, and that process becomes as important as the image itself. Notice how the texture of the paper is so present. The pencil marks are so raw, so unblended. It feels like a direct connection to the artist's thinking, almost like a visual diary entry. And there, on the right, the church spire juts out, surrounded by a flurry of scribbled lines, as though the whole landscape is vibrating. It’s as if Rip’s saying, “Here’s a place, but it’s also a feeling, a fleeting moment.” It reminds me of Twombly, with that same sense of immediacy and poetic mark-making. Art isn't about perfection, it's about capturing a moment, an impression, and leaving space for the viewer to fill in the gaps.