Studie c. 1903

George Hendrik Breitner made this study with pencil on paper, and it's currently housed in the Rijksmuseum. What's really striking here is the immediacy, right? It’s like catching a thought in mid-air. Breitner uses these quick, searching lines that don't quite settle, they keep moving, keep questioning. For me, that's the beauty of drawing, it's a process of discovery. I can almost feel the pressure of the pencil on the page, these delicate lines. You can see how the paper's texture influences each mark, giving it a kind of vibration. Look at the lower part of the head, how the line thickens and then fades, suggesting a weight, a volume that's barely there. It reminds me of de Kooning, in its willingness to leave things unresolved. Breitner's sketch feels like a fragment of something larger, like a fleeting impression. It tells us that art is an ongoing experiment, it’s a way of seeing and thinking that never really arrives at a final answer.