Seine 1932

Cyprián Majerník made this sensitive pencil drawing of the Seine, the river running through Paris. Look at the concentrated dark marks arcing over the bridge, weighed against the barely-there scratches that suggest the flow of water. I imagine Majerník standing by the river, squinting perhaps, at the light glinting off the Seine. He's trying to get it down quickly, to capture a fleeting impression of the scene. This drawing makes me think about other artists who have depicted water, like Turner or Monet, but Majerník’s approach is different. He is not trying to capture the literal appearance of the river, but something more ephemeral, more poetic. It is a drawing that seems to be looking for something, feeling its way through the world. Ultimately, it's not just about the bridge or the river, but about the act of seeing, the process of translation from the eye to the hand to the page. Each artist contributes to a larger conversation about how we perceive and interpret the world around us.