Gebouwen aan de Nieuwendijk te Amsterdam c. 1902

George Hendrik Breitner made this drawing of Buildings on the Nieuwendijk in Amsterdam with graphite on paper, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Look at the confidence in the quick, loose marks. It's as if Breitner is thinking aloud, letting the buildings emerge from a jumble of lines. There’s a real sense of artmaking as an ongoing process. The texture of the paper peeks through, creating a kind of atmosphere around the skeletal forms of the buildings. Notice how the vertical lines extend beyond the horizontal, suggesting a reaching, or maybe an instability, like a visual chord unresolved. This reminds me of some of Philip Guston's later, more cartoonish works, in how both artists embrace a kind of playful awkwardness. Art's not about perfection, is it? It’s about the conversation, the questions, and, most importantly, about how we keep looking and thinking.