Construction Site in Amsterdam
Medium
oil on fabric
Dimensions
unframed: 60.5 × 80.7 cm · framed: 80 × 100 × 8.6 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Modern European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Accession Number
1985.145
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
male
About this 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.”