Landschap 1890 - 1946

Cornelis Vreedenburgh made this drawing titled "Landschap" with pencil on paper. It's fascinating. It looks like someone's notes, maybe a sketch for a painting, or maybe just an artist doing calculations and then doodling in the margins, you know, a kind of visual thinking. I can imagine Vreedenburgh jotting down these numbers, maybe related to a commission or the cost of materials, and then, almost unconsciously, letting his mind wander, sketching little landscapes or figures amidst the calculations. Look at the different pressures and densities of the line, which seems to shift from controlled precision to more fluid expression. What was he thinking? Was he bored with numbers? Was his mind elsewhere? It reminds me of Cy Twombly, and all those other artists who blur the line between writing and drawing, between conscious intention and unconscious gesture. It’s like the artist is having a conversation with himself on paper, allowing the act of drawing to guide him into new territory. And it is that space in between, the ambiguity and uncertainty, which makes art so exciting.