Gezicht op een gracht in Amsterdam met boten 1910

This pencil sketch of a canal in Amsterdam with boats was made by George Hendrik Breitner sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. The marks are tentative, the image is built up through a web of soft grey lines. It looks like he was figuring something out. The paper has a warm tone, giving the image a glow. You can see the architecture of Amsterdam and the boats on the canal, but the drawing is more about the sensation of being there than about capturing the details. I’m drawn to the little circle floating above the scene on the right hand page. It is like a full stop, an exclamation mark or a bubble. Breitner's contemporary, James McNeill Whistler was interested in capturing fleeting moments. Both artists share a desire to explore the potential for suggestion and evocation within art. But it is also important to remember that there is no single way to understand a work of art.