Zwanenburgwal in Amsterdam 1911

Willem Adrianus Grondhout made this etching of Zwanenburgwal in Amsterdam without any date, but you can see it now at the Rijksmuseum. Just look at those lines, hatched so close they’re like whispers on paper, right? I imagine Grondhout, squinting, etching each line, pulling back to check the whole, then diving in again, searching for the light. I wonder if he stood in this street and sketched the moment before making the plate? Maybe it's the quiet before the city wakes, when the buildings hold their breath. He probably saw something fleeting in the ordinary – the way the light fell, the rhythm of the buildings, the figures blurred in the distance. There's something about the directness of etching, the commitment of each mark, that feels so connected to the artist’s hand and mind. It reminds me that art isn't just about what we see, but how we see and how artists help us to see more clearly.