Studieblad, onder andere met een koepeldak en paard en wagen 1890 - 1946

This sketchbook page by Cornelis Vreedenburgh is full of the energy of observation, rendered with what looks like graphite. You know, the kind of material you find in any old pencil. It's process laid bare: a cluster of images, each capturing a fleeting moment. The strokes are quick, confident, almost like shorthand. The dome at the bottom of the page is rendered with such care. Look at its elegant shape and the way it anchors the other forms, mostly figures, sketched above. I can almost feel the artist's hand moving across the page, making marks and gestures that capture the essence of the scene before him. Artists like Vreedenburgh, and later Picasso, understood that incompleteness and ambiguity can be more powerful than resolution. They invite the viewer to participate in the act of seeing, to fill in the gaps and construct their own meaning. Art is an ongoing conversation and the exchange of ideas across time.