Liggende kat 1886 - 1923

This is 'Liggende kat', or 'Reclining Cat', a sketch in graphite by George Hendrik Breitner. I love the casualness of the marks, almost like he’s just doodling. There’s something so intimate about these little sketches; they let you see how an artist thinks, how they translate the world to the page. It’s less about perfection and more about the process of seeing. Look at the way Breitner captures the cat's form with just a few lines, like a quick memory. The graphite has this rough, almost smudgy quality, giving the cat a sense of weight and presence despite the lightness of the drawing. You can almost feel the texture of the paper. That one dark stroke defining the cat's back, against the blank paper, it speaks volumes. It reminds me a bit of how Matisse would capture forms with simple contours, focusing on the essence of the shape rather than precise detail. Art's an ongoing conversation. There’s no right or wrong way to see it.