Construction Site in Amsterdam

About the Artwork

A leader of the Dutch Impressionists, Breitner based this painting on a series of photographs he took of a construction site in Amsterdam. Although seemingly executed rapidly on site, the painting was in fact carefully composed in the studio. Aided by his own photographs and sketches, Breitner portrayed a city in transition. Like his friend Vincent van Gogh, Breitner admired naturalist literature and was determined to become a “painter of the people.”

Inscriptions

Signed bottom left corner: G. H. Breitner

Exhibition history

The Year in Review for 1985. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 12-April 20, 1986). Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Beijing World Art Museum (May 26-August 27, 2006); Mori Art Center (September 16-November 26, 2006); Seoul Art Center, South Korea (December 22, 2006-March 28, 2007); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, South Korea (April 7-May 20, 2007); Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (June 9-September 16, 2007); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 15-June 1, 2008); Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT (June 22-September 21, 2008); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 12, 2008-January 18, 2009).

Quick Overview

Artist: George Hendrik Breitner (Dutch, 1857–1923)
Date: c. 1902
Medium: oil on fabric
Dimensions: Framed: 80 x 100 x 8.6 cm (31 1/2 x 39 3/8 x 3 3/8 in.); Unframed: 60.5 x 80.7 cm (23 13/16 x 31 3/4 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
Credit line: Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Accession no.: 1985.145

Provenance

E. J. van Wisselingh & Co., Amsterdam in 1902. Sold to A. Prins, Amsterdam/Hamburg, 31 May 1902, for Dfl 2.000. (Arij Prins [1860-1922] was a Dutch man of letters and a close friend of Breitner with whom he corresponded, and who lived in Hamburg from 1885 to 1905. Breitner's account book, which is in the Breitner Archive at the rkd in The Hague, lists the name of Arij Prins as the purchaser of the painting for Fl. 2.000. There is also a list of his works sold through the dealer van Wisselingh; there W. Prins, Hamburg, is mentioned as the purchaser of this work. W. is most likely a brother of Arij.) A. Terwindt. M. P. Voûte, Amsterdam, by 1922. Dr. W. L. Ladenius, Haarlem. Amsterdam sale, F. Muller & Co., 15-22 December 1942 (lot 129), Doorbraak Raadhuisstraat in den Winter, signed, canvas, 60.5 x 81 cm, repr., for Dfl 2.200. Amsterdam sale, Sotheby Mak van Waay, 15 May 1984 (lot 175), repr., for Dfl 47.560, to E. J. van Wisselingh & Co., Amsterdam. Purchased by the CMA in 1985.

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.