Boom naast een huis 1890 - 1946

This drawing of a tree next to a house was made by Cornelis Vreedenburgh, we don’t know exactly when, but it looks like a quick study in pencil. The lightness of the touch here is really what speaks to me. It's so minimal, it is barely there. It feels very immediate, like Vreedenburgh was capturing a fleeting moment. Look at the house; it’s not really a house, more of an idea of a house, a few lines suggesting a roof and walls. It is the kind of drawing you can almost see being made; the artist’s hand moving quickly across the page. The tree is just an outline, a scribble, but somehow it conveys the essence of a tree. It reminds me a little of some of Guston’s late ink drawings; that same sense of immediacy and the beauty found in the simplest of marks. Ultimately, it’s a reminder that art doesn’t always have to be about perfection; sometimes, it’s about capturing a feeling, a moment, an idea, as honestly and directly as possible.