Annotaties c. 1914s

This is a page from a notebook by George Hendrik Breitner, made sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Breitner was a Dutch painter and photographer known for his depictions of everyday life in Amsterdam. However, it is the nature of the modern art market that such a thing as a notebook page can be displayed in a museum. How is it that something so mundane can become art? And what is the nature of art that it should be collected and displayed by institutions? The writing on this page seems to be notes about addresses, presumably of people Breitner knew or places he wanted to paint. This relates to the social conditions in which Breitner worked, and how the culture of his time was shaped by the urban environment. To understand this work better, a historian might consult street directories and census records to find out more about the people and places mentioned. The meaning of this art is contingent on social and institutional contexts.