Achterlijf van een aangespannen paard c. 1903

George Hendrik Breitner’s study of a horse’s hindquarters in the Rijksmuseum probably came into being in a sketchbook, with charcoal or pencil, maybe on the spot, maybe later. I feel for Breitner, trying to get the essence of that horse down on paper, trying to capture not just its form but its energy, its very being. I wonder if he was muttering to himself, coaxing the image into existence with each stroke? There’s something almost tender in the way he renders the animal’s weight and musculature with simple strokes. You can almost feel the tension in those lines, the horse ready to bolt. And look how he gets the angle of the body and the undercarriage with a few deft marks! It reminds me of Daumier's drawings, also obsessed with urban life and the movement of bodies. Artists like Breitner and Daumier are in conversation with each other, even across time, finding new ways to see and feel the world through their art.