Vier aangespannen paarden met twee ruiters 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing of four horses in harness with two riders sometime in his life using pencil. I see him sketching quickly, trying to capture their energy and movement. I know that feeling when you want to get something down fast before the moment disappears. Look at those lines, like a tangle of energy. He's not trying to be neat or precise, just trying to nail the essence of what he sees. I wonder what the occasion was? What did it feel like to be there? Did the scene unfold before him slowly or quickly? I love how he uses a sort of shorthand, a visual code, to get the idea across. It's almost abstract, like he's pulling the forms apart and putting them back together in a new way. It reminds me that drawing is a way of thinking, a way of seeing the world, not just copying it. Israels is in dialogue with artists like Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec. These artists aren't just making pictures. They're figuring something out.