Studies 1895 - 1898

George Hendrik Breitner made this sketch, Studies, on lined paper. Although we don't know when it was made, Breitner was working in Amsterdam at the turn of the century when the city was experiencing rapid social change. Breitner was interested in representing the everyday life of the working classes in the city. How might these sketches relate to the development of that approach to art? While we can see in these sketches the form of a seated woman, the image remains elusive. Was this an attempt to quickly record what he saw? What was the social context in which he was making these images? Was he thinking about the institutions of art and its relationship to the public? To understand Breitner’s intentions we might look at his notebooks, letters, and the critical responses to his work at the time. Art history depends on that kind of research to understand the social conditions that shape artistic production.