Figuurstudie 1887 - 1891

Editor: Right now we're looking at George Hendrik Breitner's "Figuurstudie," a pencil drawing on paper from somewhere between 1887 and 1891, here at the Rijksmuseum. It's really just a quick sketch. The marks are light, tentative almost. There’s an area of smudged graphite and other stray marks. What do you see in this piece that I might be missing? Curator: It’s a whisper of a thing, isn’t it? Like catching a fleeting thought before it vanishes. For me, this drawing isn’t so much about what it depicts—perhaps a figure and a carriage—but more about the *act* of seeing, the very moment an artist's eye selects something from the world and tries to grasp it. The rapid notations evoke a memory that risks fading away, it almost demands that one creates one's own narrative. Do you get that feeling too? Editor: Yes, I see what you mean, it really feels like a moment captured, almost on the run. Curator: Exactly! Think about the Impressionists, Breitner's contemporaries, who were all about capturing fleeting moments of light and atmosphere. This sketch feels like their ethos distilled down to its purest form, it has elements of a landscape perhaps. It lacks that feeling of the gaze meeting the model's though, doesn't it? Editor: Definitely, it doesn’t have that sense of mutual observation or, you know, relationship. It is quick, unstudied. What feels modern about it is that is feels raw and fragmentary. I appreciate that this museum shows all aspects of an artist's works, not only polished pieces. I hadn't quite considered the immediacy of a preliminary sketch as being important. Curator: And sometimes, in that rawness, we find an honesty that's often lost in a more polished work. It is about the gesture and the eye making a memory. So next time you’re rushing somewhere, maybe try a little sketch instead of a photo – it just might capture something more!