Gezicht op de Nieuwe Teertuinen te Amsterdam 1912

This is a pencil drawing, Gezicht op de Nieuwe Teertuinen te Amsterdam, by George Hendrik Breitner. It's all tentative lines and hesitant hatching, a real hum of activity. I can feel Breitner figuring out how to communicate what’s in front of him: buildings, sky, boats, trees. The image is on the move, kind of precarious – as if the slightest breeze would blow it all apart. I feel his hand moving across the paper, almost restless, trying to find the exact right line to pin down the scene. It reminds me of some of Guston’s nervous, searching lines from the sixties. You can see him trying to resolve an image, a place, a feeling. It’s a reminder that every mark carries within it the potential for meaning, and every artist is essentially on a similar quest. It's like they are having a conversation across the ages.