Gezicht op de Eenhoornsluis te Amsterdam c. 1903

George Hendrik Breitner made this drawing of the Eenhoornsluis in Amsterdam, sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century. Look at the frenetic lines. They’re all searching, groping for a way to describe this canal scene. Can you imagine the artist standing there, sketchbook in hand, trying to capture the light and the movement of the water? The buildings seem to emerge from a tangle of marks, a jumble of vertical and horizontal strokes. Breitner is feeling his way through the composition. The marks are tentative, like he’s not quite sure what he’s seeing, but he’s determined to find it. There's a real sense of immediacy and the fleeting moment. I know that feeling of searching, of trying to pin down something that’s constantly shifting and changing, very well. It’s like you are pulling things from the air. It reminds me of other urban sketchers like Gustave Caillebotte or even the later work of Philip Guston, artists who were trying to capture the grit and the energy of the city. We’re all just trying to make sense of the world, one sketch at a time, right?