Boot aangemeerd aan een steiger 1890 - 1946

Cornelis Vreedenburgh made this drawing, "Boot aangemeerd aan een steiger", with pencil on paper. You know, when I look at this, I see the hand of someone really thinking through the process of looking. The pencil moves so quickly, almost nervously, as if trying to catch a fleeting moment, a feeling of being there. The lines are all so tentative, so searching, yet they build up to something solid. See how the darker smudges give weight to the shapes, while the lighter, scratchier lines suggest the play of light on the water. And that long horizontal line cutting across the page, is it the mast of a boat, or a horizon line? It’s left open, unresolved. It reminds me of a Cy Twombly drawing, the way it captures the energy of a place through these simple, almost childlike marks. It’s not about showing us exactly what's there, but about giving us a sense of the artist's own experience of seeing it.