Amsterdam

Steep stepped-and-bell gables of narrow canal houses lean together at a street corner, their many small windows catching patches of blue and warm light; the cobbled street curves sharply in the foreground past a low bollard, with more gabled rooftops receding down the lane under a swirling sky.

Heavy, textured strokes of ochre, umber, and slate blue build the facades with an almost sculptural thickness, while the sky is scrubbed in with pale greenish-white swirls that heighten the buildings' slight distortion and tilt; the bold, expressive handling and somber tonality give the old townscape a brooding, dramatic weight.