Pakhuizen aan een Amsterdamse gracht op Uilenburg 1885 - 1922

Willem Witsen made this oil painting of warehouses on a canal in Amsterdam, sometime around the late 19th or early 20th century. Look at the way he’s built the whole scene out of these gentle layers of grayish-brown. There’s something so atmospheric and almost ghostly about it. You can imagine Witsen, standing there, trying to capture the quiet stillness of the water. The way it reflects the buildings, and the subtle shift of light in the sky. I see how the paint is thin, washy even, in some areas, which gives it this incredible sense of depth. Think about the brown building on the left. It's like he’s not just painting the building, but the feeling of being there, the dampness, the weight of history. The way he renders the bridge is like a little stage for the figures crossing. Each brushstroke feels deliberate, like he’s really thinking about how light and shadow play off each other. Painters like Witsen were in constant conversation with each other. Exploring ways to capture not just what they saw, but how it felt to be alive in those moments.