Gezicht op de Sloterdijkbrug te Amsterdam 1907 - 1909

George Hendrik Breitner made this sketch of the Sloterdijkbrug in Amsterdam, and you can just feel him there, can’t you, poised with his pencil in his sketchbook. What I see is mostly lines, the barest of lines, just enough to show you the bridge, the canal, and the world beyond. The lines are so alive, and seem to be reaching for something, searching. They remind me of Cy Twombly’s scribbles, somehow full of meaning and direction but still fragmented and open. I wonder what Breitner was thinking? Was he happy that day? Was he just trying to record some information, or was he trying to capture the feeling of being there? The confidence of line speaks to a tradition of plein air painters, jotting down what they see when they see it. It's a quick, visceral record of a place, a moment, a feeling. A fleeting attempt at making something permanent.