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George Hendrik Breitner
George Hendrik Breitner

George Hendrik Breitner

Dutch, 1857-1923
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George Hendrik Breitner was a Dutch painter and photographer. An important figure in Amsterdam Impressionism, he is noted especially for his paintings of street scenes and harbours in a realistic style. He painted en plein air, and became interested in photography as a means of documenting street life and atmospheric effects – rainy weather in particular – as reference materials for his paintings.

George Hendrik Breitner was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands. From 1876 to 1880 he attended the Art Academy in The Hague where his extraordinary talent was rewarded on various occasions. From October 1878 till April 1879 he worked as an art teacher at the Leiden academy Ars Aemula Naturae. In 1880 he was expelled from the Art Academy of The Hague for misconduct, because he had destroyed the regulations-board. In the same year he lived at landscapist Willem Maris's place at Loosduinen and was accepted as a member of Pulchri Studio, an important artist's society in The Hague. Later, he distanced himself from the Hague School and today he is generally regarded as an Amsterdam Impressionist.

During 1880–1881 he worked at the famous Panorama Mesdag together with Hendrik Mesdag, S. Mesdag-van Houten, Theophile de Bock and Barend Blommers. In 1882 he met and worked together with Vincent van Gogh, with whom he often went sketching in the poorer areas of The Hague. Breitner preferred working-class models: labourers, servant girls and people from the lower class districts. Interest in the lot of the common people, which many artists felt in that period, was nurtured by the social conscience of French writers such as Émile Zola.

He was associated with the Dutch literary group known as the Tachtigers (English translation: "Eighty-ers"). This was a group that championed impressionism and naturalism against romanticism, influencing other painters such as Isaac Israëls, Willem Witsen, and poets like Willem Kloos.

Breitner saw himself as "le peintre du peuple", the people's painter. He was the painter of city views par excellence: wooden foundation piles by the harbour, demolition work and construction sites in the old centre, horse trams on the Dam, or canals in the rain. With his nervous brush strokes, he captured the dynamic street life. By 1890, cameras were affordable, and Breitner had a much better instrument to satisfy his ambitions. He became very interested in capturing movement and illumination in the city, and became a master in doing this. It is not impossible that Breitner's preference for cloudy weather conditions and a greyish and brownish palette resulted from certain limitations of the photographic material.

Breitner also painted female nudes, but just like Rembrandt he was criticized because his nudes were painted too realistically and did not resemble the common ideal of beauty. In his own time Breitner's paintings were admired by artists and art lovers, but often despised by the Dutch art critics for their raw and realistic nature.

By the turn of the century Breitner was a famous painter in the Netherlands, as demonstrated by a highly successful retrospective exhibition at Arti et Amicitiae in Amsterdam (1901). Breitner travelled frequently in the last decades of his life, visiting Paris, London, and Berlin, among other cities, and continued to take photographs. In 1909 he went to the United States as a member of the jury for the Carnegie International Exhibition in Pittsburgh.

Breitner had only two pupils, Kees Maks (1876–1967) and Marie Henrie Mackenzie (1878–1961).

He died on 5 June 1923 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

94 items

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View in the Hague

View in the Hague (c. 1880 - c. 1923)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Landscape
Labourers Pulling a Heavily Laden Cart on Jacob van Lennepkade, Amsterdam,

Labourers Pulling a Heavily Laden Cart on Jacob van Lennepkade, Amsterdam, (1900)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Figurative
Huzaren staande naast hun paarden langs de kant van de weg

Huzaren staande naast hun paarden langs de kant van de weg (c. 1867 - c. 1923)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Figurative
Gezelschap op een boot

Gezelschap op een boot (1867 - 1923)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Figurative
Drie mannen en een jongen bij drie paarden

Drie mannen en een jongen bij drie paarden (1873)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Figurative
Dame in atelier achter harmonium

Dame in atelier achter harmonium (1867 - 1923)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Figurative
Bouwterrein Oud-West te Amsterdam

Bouwterrein Oud-West te Amsterdam (1900)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Figurative
Markt met bloemenstalletjes

Markt met bloemenstalletjes (1874 - 1925)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Landscape
Winter in Amsterdam

Winter in Amsterdam (c. 1900 - c. 1901)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Landscape
Warehouses on the Teertuinen on the Prinseneiland, Amsterdam

Warehouses on the Teertuinen on the Prinseneiland, Amsterdam (1880 - 1923)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Landscape
View of the Oosterpark, Amsterdam, in the Snow

View of the Oosterpark, Amsterdam, in the Snow (1892)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Landscape
View in the Woods

View in the Woods (c. 1880 - c. 1923)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Landscape
Rustende cavalerie op een plein

Rustende cavalerie op een plein (1880 - 1919)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Figurative
View in the Dunes near Dekkersduin, The Hague

View in the Dunes near Dekkersduin, The Hague (c. 1875 - c. 1885)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Landscape
The Tower of Gorkum

The Tower of Gorkum (c. 1880 - c. 1908)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Landscape
The Singel Bridge at the Paleisstraat in Amsterdam

The Singel Bridge at the Paleisstraat in Amsterdam (1898)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Landscape
The Rokin

The Rokin (c. 1880 - c. 1923)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Landscape
The Rokin, Amsterdam

The Rokin, Amsterdam (1897)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Landscape
The Rokin, Amsterdam

The Rokin, Amsterdam (c. 1880 - c. 1923)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Landscape
The Rokin, Amsterdam

The Rokin, Amsterdam (1923)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Landscape
The Leidsegracht, Amsterdam

The Leidsegracht, Amsterdam (c. 1880 - c. 1923)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Landscape
The Demolition of the Grand Bazar de la Bourse on the Nieuwendijk, Amsterdam

The Demolition of the Grand Bazar de la Bourse on the Nieuwendijk, Amsterdam (1893 - 1897)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Landscape
Gezelschap op een boot

Gezelschap op een boot (1867 - 1923)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Figurative
Standing Nude

Standing Nude (1893)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Figurative
Construction Site in Amsterdam

Construction Site in Amsterdam (c. 1902)

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Illustration
Cavalry Scene

Cavalry Scene

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Illustration
Calvary Scene

Calvary Scene

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Illustration
Paardentrams en figuren op een plein

Paardentrams en figuren op een plein

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Abstract
Huzaar

Huzaar

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Figurative
Jongetje met vogel

Jongetje met vogel

George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857-1923)
Figurative
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