Voorsteven van een schuit c. 1892 - 1923

This is George Hendrik Breitner’s sketch of the front of a boat. I’m looking at these shaky lines – tentative, searching. You can almost feel Breitner’s hand moving, trying to pin down the essence of this boat. It reminds me of when I’m trying to catch a feeling or a fleeting thought in my own work. I bet he stared at the boat, trying to distill what he saw into a few quick strokes. The lines crisscross, suggesting volume and depth, without really committing to a single, perfect outline. I love how the ambiguity lets my eye complete the picture, filling in the details. It’s like Breitner is inviting me to collaborate with him, across time and space. It is like we are having a conversation about what it means to see, to really see, the world around us.