Lot Essay
Painted in 1879 during the artist's study at the Hague academy, the present lot constitutes the début of Breitner's profession as a painter. Most likely inspired by seventeenth century kitchen stil lifes by for example Pieter Aertsen, Breitner's abundant and for its genre relatively large still life depicts quintessentially Dutch winter vegetables:"In 't midden ligt een breed gebladerde groene kool, regts daarvan een roode en daarnaast andijvie. Op de voorgrond Peen en knollen en links van de gro.kool enige groote kroten en uijen..." (op.cit Paul Hefting, 1970).
Breitner admitted the still life to the exhibition Kunstwerken van Levende Meesters of 1879 in Arti et Amicitiae, where it was accepted and eventually also found a buyer. In a letter to A.P. van Stolk following his first showing ever, Breitner refers to the still life as a study that proved to be worth while. Compared to a vegetable still life by H.W. Mesdag dating 1867, Breitner's interpretation indeed stands out due its sketchy and suggestive painting style. The distinct compositional similarities between the two still lifes, with emphasis on the diagonal line lower left and the vertical line upper centre, however cast doubt on Breitner's assertion that the still life is a spontaneous study of vegetables coincidentally avaible at the time. Retrospectively the genre of still life proved not to be entirely suitable for the artist's innate preferance for dynamic and contemporary subjectmatter, with the exception of various flower still lifes rendered in his characteristic impressionistic style.
See colour illustration
Breitner admitted the still life to the exhibition Kunstwerken van Levende Meesters of 1879 in Arti et Amicitiae, where it was accepted and eventually also found a buyer. In a letter to A.P. van Stolk following his first showing ever, Breitner refers to the still life as a study that proved to be worth while. Compared to a vegetable still life by H.W. Mesdag dating 1867, Breitner's interpretation indeed stands out due its sketchy and suggestive painting style. The distinct compositional similarities between the two still lifes, with emphasis on the diagonal line lower left and the vertical line upper centre, however cast doubt on Breitner's assertion that the still life is a spontaneous study of vegetables coincidentally avaible at the time. Retrospectively the genre of still life proved not to be entirely suitable for the artist's innate preferance for dynamic and contemporary subjectmatter, with the exception of various flower still lifes rendered in his characteristic impressionistic style.
See colour illustration