Stoomboot op het water 1890 - 1946

This pencil drawing of a steamboat on water was made by Cornelis Vreedenburgh sometime in his lifetime. It's all tentative lines, isn't it? A smattering of notations next to the drawings. I imagine Vreedenburgh, sitting perhaps on the bank of a river, quickly sketching what he sees. Did he make the drawing in one sitting, or did he return to it over time? There’s something intimate in these almost ephemeral marks. You can feel the artist trying to capture the essence of the boat and the water with a minimal amount of marks. I’m interested in his thought process, the kind of seeing that is a kind of thinking. It reminds me a little of Twombly, and all those artists who are interested in the life of the line. Each artist builds on those who came before, learning from and riffing off their ideas. Painting is an ongoing conversation, a constant exchange of ideas across time.