Landschap en een toren, mogelijk in Wangen im Allgäu 1921 - 1923

George Hendrik Breitner made this sketch of a landscape and tower, possibly in Wangen im Allgäu. It was rendered with graphite on paper. I’m thinking about the act of sketching here - the way a line can capture the essence of a form with such minimal effort. I can imagine Breitner standing there, maybe the wind is in his hair. He is quickly trying to capture the scene before the light shifts. You know, sometimes it's not about perfection, but about feeling. And I feel that in this sketch. The simplicity of the lines, the way he suggests the texture of the landscape. It reminds me a little of Twombly’s sketches. And even though their styles are vastly different, there's that shared interest in mark-making, like a kind of shorthand for the world. I think there's a real conversation happening between artists across time, where we’re all kind of riffing off each other, inspiring each other.