Jurk 1908

Here's a sketch by George Hendrik Breitner made with pencil on paper. I love the raw, immediate feel of this drawing. You can almost see Breitner's hand moving across the page, capturing a fleeting impression of a figure. It feels so personal. Look at the sparse use of line, how he suggests form and volume with just a few strokes. I bet he was trying to capture not just what the person looked like, but also something about their presence, their weight in the world. You know, when I look at this, I think about other artists who were working with similar ideas around the same time, like Degas with his quick, impressionistic sketches. There’s a kind of conversation happening across time. Each artist picks up the thread and keeps it going. This drawing is a reminder that art is an ongoing process of exploration, always open to new possibilities.