Staande vrouw met hoed c. 1903

George Hendrik Breitner made this drawing, Staande vrouw met hoed, with pencil on paper. It's all about the energy of the line, isn't it? The way the marks dance around the page. Look at how Breitner captures the woman's form with these quick, almost scribbled lines. There's a real sense of movement and immediacy. It feels like he's trying to capture a fleeting moment, a gesture, a feeling. See the hat? It's just a few lines, but it totally reads as a hat. I love that kind of economy, that ability to say so much with so little. You know, this reminds me a bit of some of Degas' drawings, that same interest in capturing the everyday, the casual pose. It makes you wonder about all the unseen sketches, all the marks that artists make in the process of trying to see. It's like we're catching a glimpse of Breitner's mind at work.