George Hendrik Breitner (1857-1923) Workhorses in Montmartre, signed 'G.H. Breitner' (lower right), oil on canvas, 54x65 cm Painted circa 1884-1885. From May to December 1884, George Hendrik Breitner made his first stay in Paris, where he painted work horses in Montmartre. At the end of the 19th century, about a thousand Dutch artists arrived in Paris, the capital of the arts. Between salons, exhibitions, the Beaux-Arts and artists’ studios, the French capital was a gold mine for foreign artists. ‘‘Do not forget that Paris is Paris. There is only one Paris.’’ wrote Vincent Van Gogh. It is with the same ambition that Breitner came to Paris for inspiration. Son of a grain merchant from Rotterdam, Breitner was born in 1857 in an environment unfamiliar to the arts. In May 1884, at the age of 26, he set foot in Paris for the first time. Freshly arrived, he moved to rue Boinod 8 in the 18th arrondissement, then to rue Constance 11 in the heart of Montmartre. Far from the glamour of the department stores, or the grands boulevards, what Breitner witnessed were the damaged houses of poor neighbourhoods. During his stay in Paris, Breitner only painted a few works. Captured on the spot, Breitner paints the ordinary people in the streets: the servants, the laundresses, establishing him as ‘le peintre du peuple’. While most Dutch artists came to Paris to find inspiration, and break free from the strong Dutch tradition, Breitner’s palette remained relatively dark during his Parisian years, for example his famous ‘Het paard van Montmartre’ painted in 1884 (Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, inv. no. A 2201). In contrast to the present lot which stands out as a bright and more colourful work. Breitner’s subjects and the untied touch of these works show at first a real continuity with his previous creations, for example, the scenes of the street of The Hague or the artillery scenes. In Paris, the Dutch artist pursued his attachment to painting horses and construction sites, a subject that comes back several times in his oeuvre. For example ‘Afbraak Boulevard Montmartre (La Charette)’ of 1884 (Zwolle, Museum de Fundatie, inv. no. 2031) depicts a horse-drawn, loaded wagon with hay, surrounded by various figures. Like our present lot, the specifics of the facial features of Breitner’s figures are left out. On a closer look, we can see that Paris and its Parisian environment have really influenced the modern painter Breitner. Workhorses in Montmartre portrays two white workhorses inspired by ‘Manette Salomon’, a novel of the Goncourt brothers. Executed in hues of blueish-grey, the horses are slowly ascending from the sunlit path into the shadow, leaving behind the various figures absorbed in their work. With this realistic scene of urban labour, painted in an impressionistic style, Breitner marvellously renders to canvas a scene of Paris under construction in the midst of the transition of the city into the modern era. Literature: -P.H. Hefting, 'G.H. Breitner in zijn Haagse tijd', Utrecht 1970, p. 113, no. 28. -Pieter A. Scheen, 'Lexicon Nederlandse Beeldende Kunstenaars 1750-1880', The Hague 1981, ill. no. 791. -Jacobine Wieringa, 'Breitner en Parijs', Deventer 2007, ill. p. 101, no. 13. Provenance: -Collection Mr. William Cornelius van Horne (1843-1915), Montreal. -With Kunsthandel Pieter A. Scheen, The Hague, by 1980. Starting price : 20000