Gezicht op Trafalgar Square te Londen c. 1888 - 1891

Editor: This is Willem Witsen’s “Gezicht op Trafalgar Square te Londen,” a pencil drawing from around 1888 to 1891. It's a pretty fleeting, almost ghostly impression. I’m immediately drawn to how unresolved it feels – like a memory glimpsed through fog. What do you see in it? Curator: That sense of transience is key, I think. For me, it whispers of the ephemeral nature of city life, doesn’t it? All those bustling figures, quickly sketched… where are they going? It almost feels like he’s trying to capture the vibration of the city more than the solid buildings. The blotches, like organic imperfections on the page, somehow enhance that sense. It's definitely plein-air, almost like he raced to get down what he saw and felt before the moment vanished. It invites us to contemplate our place in this relentless urban current. Editor: That's interesting! I didn't think of it as the artist trying to depict the city as much as them trying to convey a memory that will fade. Curator: Well, memories themselves are transient aren't they? What makes them take hold? It's a beautiful thing that this one is recorded here. How else can we see and understand our collective history? Witsen wasn't simply documenting – he was interpreting. He was saying something. But what I like is he asks a question of us as viewers in the process, what do *we* take away from what he saw and what he tried to create? Editor: I get that. I’m left wondering how many other fleeting moments are lost forever and appreciating that he managed to preserve at least one. Curator: Exactly! Art, ultimately, isn't just *about* seeing, it's about preserving a piece of the past or of our present in such a way it has something important to say.