Paard-en-wagen c. 1914s

George Hendrik Breitner created this drawing, ‘Paard-en-wagen’, using chalk on paper. The artwork is dominated by the abstract shapes of the horse and cart, rendered with rapid, gestural lines. The composition emphasizes movement, with the horizontal strokes suggesting speed and the fleeting nature of urban life. The artist destabilizes our conventional understanding of form by presenting a subject that is both recognizable and abstracted, challenging our perception and interpretation. Breitner’s structural use of line and form invites us to consider the dynamism of modern experience and the ways in which artists were beginning to capture this through fractured, transient imagery. The drawing functions as a signifier of a larger cultural shift towards embracing change, and the impermanence that characterizes modern life. The tension between representation and abstraction asks us to consider how our understanding of the world is always in flux, mediated through signs and open to interpretation.