Gezicht op het Singel te Amsterdam c. 1893s - 1903s

George Hendrik Breitner made this sketch of the Singel in Amsterdam with pen in ink and graphite. Look at how the marks shift and emerge through trial and error. I sympathize with him as he stood at the canal thinking, sketching, smudging and correcting. The ink creates bold, confident strokes, while the graphite adds soft, hazy shading that blurs the image. It feels like a snapshot of a fleeting moment. I wonder if Breitner wanted to capture the energy of the city. He was known for his impressionistic paintings of Amsterdam. Here, the marks become a shorthand for the scene. The image feels like an intimate conversation, not just with the artist, but with all artists who've ever tried to capture the world around them. We're all in this together, riffing on each other, responding to the same old challenges with new eyes. It's ambiguous, for sure, but that's where the magic is.