Stadsgezicht 1890 - 1946

Cornelis Vreedenburgh made this cityscape with graphite on paper, and for me, it's all about the making. It's like catching a thought as it zips by – quick and kinda messy. The graphite is used so economically, just enough to give you the bones of the scene, but your mind fills in the rest. The texture is smooth, from the paper, and it’s all about the line. Look how the strokes vary, thick to thin, confident to tentative – it's alive. I really love the scrawly energy, especially in the middle section, where it almost bursts with raw immediacy. Vreedenburgh reminds me a bit of Guston, how he embraced a kind of playful freedom in his later work. It's like they both decided that art doesn't have to be so serious, it can be a laugh, a scribble, a way of keeping the conversation going without needing all the answers.