Figuur, mogelijk op het land 1884 - 1886

George Hendrik Breitner made this drawing, "Figuur, mogelijk op het land," with pen and brush in grey ink. Breitner was working in Amsterdam at a time when the city was undergoing rapid transformation. Looking at the sketch, we see the artist’s interest in the everyday life of working-class people. Breitner made a name for himself through his street photography and gritty, urban scenes, and this sketch may be a preparatory drawing. He was part of a generation of artists who turned away from historical painting towards a more modern realism. They were interested in capturing the reality of urban life, the impact of modernization, and the changing social fabric of the Netherlands. To understand Breitner's artistic choices, we might look at photography of the period, and the literature of social realism, comparing this image to others by Breitner and his contemporaries, to get a better sense of the public role and political commitments of art in the late 19th century.