Studie c. 1912

This study by George Hendrik Breitner is a flurry of marks made in graphite and blue crayon on paper. It's so minimal it's almost not there, but that's what I love about it. You can sense him working out a composition, the bare bones of an idea taking shape. Look at the bottom right of the image: Breitner seems to be mapping out an object, maybe a piece of furniture or the corner of a building. He scratches around it, searching for the right lines, while on the left side of the paper, it’s more atmospheric – just faint smudges and erasures. The whole thing has a lovely, tentative quality. It reminds me of Cy Twombly's drawings. Both artists share a kind of beautiful, unresolved openness in their work, an idea that the process is as important as the final product. Ultimately, this is the beauty of art, to leave space for mystery, doubt, and multiple readings.