Amsterdamse gracht, gezien vanaf een brug c. 1915 - 1921

Willem Witsen made this drawing of an Amsterdam canal from a bridge with pencil. I love how spare it is, yet so evocative. Imagine Witsen standing there, maybe a little chilly, quickly sketching the scene before him. The lines are tentative, searching, like he’s trying to capture the essence of the place without getting bogged down in detail. Look at the quick, scribbled lines suggesting the water. There’s a real sense of immediacy, as if he’s trying to fix the fleeting moment in time. It reminds me of some of my own plein air painting experiences, that feeling of chasing the light and trying to distill the chaos of the world into something manageable on the page. There's a whole lineage of artists who have stood in similar spots, drawing and painting the light on the water, the reflections, the life of the city. It’s like we’re all in conversation, across time, trying to figure out this thing called seeing.