Gezicht in Amsterdam met gebouwen aan het water, mogelijk de Nieuwe Teertuinen Possibly 1912 - 1919

George Hendrik Breitner made this graphite sketch of Amsterdam, its buildings reflected in the water. It's not about perfection, is it? It's about feeling, about getting something down quickly. Look at those lines – they're all energy. The graphite is like a seismograph, capturing the artist's movements and thoughts. You can almost see him squinting as he is trying to capture the buildings and the light as they hit the water. The scribbles around the buildings are cool. They're like a shorthand, a way of suggesting form without getting bogged down in detail. Breitner’s mark making reminds me of Cy Twombly. Both artists embrace the unfinished, the imperfect, the raw energy of the moment. And that's what makes their work so alive. It embraces the idea that art is a process, not just a product.