Havnebassinet Kattendick i Antwerpen. 1906

Othon Friesz made this drawing of the Kattendick harbor in Antwerp with ink on paper. There is a real freedom in the line, a spontaneous quality, which tells me Friesz was less concerned with capturing the exact likeness of the scene, and more interested in the pure, unadulterated act of drawing. There's a beautiful tension between the light and dark areas, like the murky water in the foreground against the distant sky, which gives the piece a kind of moody atmosphere. The marks are confident, almost brash, and you can practically feel the artist's hand moving across the page. Look closely, and you'll see the way he uses hatching and cross-hatching to build up tone and texture. It’s like a dance, a conversation between the artist, the ink, and the paper. I can see echoes of other artists like the German Expressionist, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, who also used bold lines and simplified forms to convey emotion. Ultimately, it reminds us that art is not just about what we see, but how we see it.