Figuur voor een boom 1881 - 1883

George Hendrik Breitner made this sketch in pencil on paper. We can see the artist thinking through the relationship between a figure and a tree. Breitner was working in the Netherlands during a period of rapid social and economic change. How do we see this reflected in his art? Well, Breitner's naturalistic style emerged in opposition to the dominant academic painting of his time. He was interested in portraying modern urban life and the working class. Here we see the early stages of an artist thinking through those relationships of modernity to nature. We might ask ourselves, how does this relationship reflect on Dutch society? Is it self-consciously conservative or progressive? Does it critique the institutions of art? To understand the meaning of art, as with this sketch, is contingent on its social and institutional context. We might consider other sketches and paintings by the artist, the history of the Dutch art world, or the urban context in which he was working to better understand this work.