Schema van de hanging van Breitners schilderijen met toelichting c. 1942

This drawing in the Rijksmuseum is by George Hendrik Breitner. It’s a diagram of how his paintings were to be hung, a plan of sorts, mapped out with brisk lines on a sheet of paper. I imagine Breitner, surrounded by canvases, pacing around his studio. He squints, trying to envision the arrangement, each piece jostling for space, pushing against the others, but ultimately settling into a harmonious order. It’s an intuitive dance, isn’t it? This placement of paintings, not unlike arranging words on a page, or daubs of colour on a canvas. The diagram reminds me that every artist is a curator, a composer of their own visual symphony. Each choice, a reflection of a dialogue within themselves, and with the world. How cool is that? Like a conversation among friends, where ideas spark and evolve through exchange. Breitner's layout resonates with Mondrian's grids, maybe, or even the dense surfaces of a Guston. It’s all connected, this lineage of seeing and making.