George Hendrik Breitner (1857-1923)

When Breitner moved to Amsterdam in 1886 he became infatuated with the capital and started painting the city life in numerous sketches, paintings and photographs. His use of grey tones and quick brushstrokes proved to be perfect for depicting the hard city life. When photography became less expensive and more accessible, he incorporated this new invention in his work. He became an almost obsessive photographer of Amsterdam and its inhabitants. More than 2000 of his negatives are still known today (recorded in the archives of the RKD, The Hague). He used his photographs as study material to catch a certain atmosphere, the light and different weather conditions. Sometimes he used them as a direct example for his paintings, like he did in the present painting depicting the Looiersgracht in winter (fig. 1). On the left side of the painting one can still detect the vague contours of a female figure. An early photograph of this painting (recorded in the archives of the RKD, The Hague) indicates that originally there was a woman with a red hat on the painting. Possibly the dealer Van Wisselingh which whom Breitner had a contract, advised him to remove the figure in order to improve the chance of selling the work.