Groep figuren 1886 - 1923

This drawing, Groep figuren, by George Hendrik Breitner, is a jumble of marks made with graphite or charcoal on paper. It's so open and ambiguous; it's like seeing the artist think. The energy of the marks is really something. Look at the repeated lines creating a dark smudge in the center. This area shows the build-up of the artists searching, as if trying to work out what the subject is by feeling around it. See how some of the lines are tentative, quickly sketched, whereas others are more deeply etched into the page? The way the drawing is so unresolved reminds me of Cy Twombly's work, or even some of the automatic drawings made by the Surrealists. It shows how art doesn't always have to be about perfect representation but can be about the pure joy of mark-making. It's like a visual diary, a record of a moment in time. The figures might not be clear, but the feeling is.