Haven van Antwerpen 1922

Henri Braakensiek made this print, Haven van Antwerpen, with a kind of restless energy. It's all these scratchy, scribbly lines in a burnt-sienna color, like he couldn't quite settle on any one detail but wanted to capture it all. You can almost feel him standing there, maybe shivering a little, trying to get the essence of the harbor down before the light changed. The ships are looming and large, but they are depicted with such an immediacy, with so little regard to being precious or perfect. It’s about speed and sensation. I think of other artists like Paula Modersohn-Becker, who were also working at the turn of the century and trying to find ways to represent the world as they felt it, not just as they saw it. Braakensiek's mark-making reminds us that painting can be a way of understanding and feeling our surroundings. It's about embracing uncertainty and allowing for multiple interpretations, which makes the viewing experience even more exciting.