Annotaties c. 1903

This page of annotations was made by George Hendrik Breitner, but we don't know exactly when or with what. The artist lets us glimpse his process here; the handwriting is like a seismograph of his thoughts, scratching across the paper in looping lines. I love how Breitner captures something essential about the act of artmaking, like a recipe that’s more about the feeling than the ingredients. There are lists, numbers, and scribbled out words, a kind of beautiful, chaotic energy, like Cy Twombly let loose in an accountant’s office. Look at the way some words are underlined, emphasized, as if the artist is trying to pin down a fleeting idea. It reminds me that art isn't just about the final product, but about the messy, human process of trying to make sense of the world. This reminds us that art is an ongoing conversation, a back-and-forth between intention and accident.