Boer achter een ploeg 1884 - 1886

George Hendrik Breitner made this drawing, "Boer achter een ploeg," using pencil on paper. Although the sketch is undated, we might see it in the context of the rising urbanism of the Netherlands at the turn of the century. Breitner was known as the painter of Amsterdam, but here he takes as his subject the agrarian worker. The Rijksmuseum was founded during a period of nationalism and sought to define what it meant to be Dutch. It is interesting to note that even as the country industrialized, the museum still looked to the land and the farmer as a symbol of national identity. We might consider this work in light of the rise of social realism in European painting, where the lives of the working class became the subject of art. However, Breitner's sketch is more ambiguous in its political statement. Further research into the cultural politics of the Netherlands at the time, including exhibition reviews, private letters, and government documents, will give us a deeper understanding.