George Hendrik Breitner Dutch, 1857-1923

City life was an inexhaustible source of inspiration to George Hendrik Breitner. After his move to Amsterdam in 1886, he became intoxicated by the vitality of the Dutch capital. The busy streets and canals with carriages, trams and passers-by suited his life-long goal to become a painter of every day life. This interest in day-to-day life was firmly rooted in the naturalism of Zola and the Goncourts, writers Breitner admired greatly. Already in 1882 Breitner voiced his wish to become ‘le peintre du peuple’. He liked to depict the ordinary people in the street, caught during their daily activities. As such, Breitner became the chroniqueur of his time and a pioneer of Dutch urban impressionism, which came to be known as ‘Amsterdam Impressionism’.

Breitner was gifted with a great eye for the momentary. The present lot, showing an Amsterdam canal in winter, is a great example of this. One of the most striking aspects is the daring composition, which shows a strong emphasis on horizontal and vertical lines. On the right, the approaching horse-drawn cart is partly cut off by the right edge of the picture. It is a well known fact that Breitner, himself a talented photographer, applied artistic devices borrowed from photography to create images that appear to be snapshots of daily life. The partly cut-off cart is a photographic device Breitner often used in his paintings. It can possibly even be traced back to a specific photograph the artist took of one of the Amsterdam canals.

It has been suggested that the present lot, which has always remained in private hands, depicts a view of the Lauriergracht in Amsterdam.