Gezicht in Amsterdam 1895 - 1898

This pencil drawing of an Amsterdam cityscape was made by George Hendrik Breitner. The angular rooftops and abstracted figures are rendered with stark lines, simplified to their barest forms. These stark lines, almost like hieroglyphs, present the essence of form. Consider the evolution of such images: from ancient Egyptian depictions of simplified human figures to the later Byzantine icons, and even up to modern-day street art. The impulse to simplify and capture the fundamental essence of form repeats itself. These recurrences are not coincidences. There is a psychological allure in these rudimentary drawings, a primal connection to the basic human instinct to represent and understand our surroundings. This is more than a mere cityscape; it is an echo, engaging our subconscious and inviting us to interpret and reconstruct, again and again.