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Lot Essay
The painting Besneeuwde brug met sleperskar was once part of the famous collection of the family doctor and plastic surgeon Johannes Fredericus Samuel Esser (1877-1946). Esser preferred buying from artists whom he knew personally and he met George Hendrik Breitner soon after he moved to Amsterdam in 1906. One can imagine Esser visiting Breitner's studio on a Saturday morning going through the paintings stacked against the walls and looking in the folders with drawings and other works on paper to end up buying something and taking it home in triumph. Around 1908 Esser bought the present lot together with Breitner's magnum opus Dam bij Avond (collection Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam).
Breitner was fascinated by the various appearances of Amsterdam. As depicted in the present lot, he preferred slightly gloomy weather: slushy snow with low hanging clouds and mist. Breitner was often praised for his ability to capture the soul of the city. This view is a beautiful example of the work he made in the second half of the nineties: his style of painting is broad and the city is alive with movement and people. Esser owned about 50 works by Breitner in total, mostly pictures with comparable subjects.
By 1911 Esser's collection had become so large that it had outgrown his house on the Willemsparkweg. Esser found the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam prepared to take part of the collection on loan. Amongst the artworks shown in the Stedelijk were Dam bij Avond and Besneeuwde brug met sleperskar. Breitner was not amused: he wrote Esser asking him not to exhibit his work and even offered to buy back the works in question. A remarkable thing for an artist continuously short of funds. His reason for doing so was that by selling work to Esser he had violated the exclusive contract he had with the artdealer E.J. van Wisselingh & Co. Esser paid no attention and Breitner's paintings and drawings were shown to the public. Several letters were exchanged in which the painter accused Esser of being nosy and bossing him around. Esser on his part was heavily insulted claiming he had done nothing but defend Breitner and that he would do so no longer: 'Now I see you as everybody else does. My extreme sense of independence and inflexibility before every power in the world are no longer at your disposal. My enthousiasm for you has disappeared.' Not soon after this debacle Esser moved to Paris to study plastic surgery. Van Wisselingh ended Breitner's contract and the artist made arrangements with the art dealer Frans Buffa in Amsterdam.
Besneeuwde brug met sleperskar stayed on loan to the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam until 1934 after which it went on to the Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp, where it stayed until three years after Esser's death in 1946. His heirs offered the painting at auction in 1949 and it has not been exhibited since.
We would like to thank Drs Mayken Jonkman, co-author of Mondriaan Breitner Sluijters e.a. De onstuitbare verzamelaar J.F.S. Esser, Zwolle/Laren 2005, and co-curator of the exhibition of the same name at the Singer Museum, Laren 2006, for preparing this catalogue entry.
Breitner was fascinated by the various appearances of Amsterdam. As depicted in the present lot, he preferred slightly gloomy weather: slushy snow with low hanging clouds and mist. Breitner was often praised for his ability to capture the soul of the city. This view is a beautiful example of the work he made in the second half of the nineties: his style of painting is broad and the city is alive with movement and people. Esser owned about 50 works by Breitner in total, mostly pictures with comparable subjects.
By 1911 Esser's collection had become so large that it had outgrown his house on the Willemsparkweg. Esser found the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam prepared to take part of the collection on loan. Amongst the artworks shown in the Stedelijk were Dam bij Avond and Besneeuwde brug met sleperskar. Breitner was not amused: he wrote Esser asking him not to exhibit his work and even offered to buy back the works in question. A remarkable thing for an artist continuously short of funds. His reason for doing so was that by selling work to Esser he had violated the exclusive contract he had with the artdealer E.J. van Wisselingh & Co. Esser paid no attention and Breitner's paintings and drawings were shown to the public. Several letters were exchanged in which the painter accused Esser of being nosy and bossing him around. Esser on his part was heavily insulted claiming he had done nothing but defend Breitner and that he would do so no longer: 'Now I see you as everybody else does. My extreme sense of independence and inflexibility before every power in the world are no longer at your disposal. My enthousiasm for you has disappeared.' Not soon after this debacle Esser moved to Paris to study plastic surgery. Van Wisselingh ended Breitner's contract and the artist made arrangements with the art dealer Frans Buffa in Amsterdam.
Besneeuwde brug met sleperskar stayed on loan to the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam until 1934 after which it went on to the Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp, where it stayed until three years after Esser's death in 1946. His heirs offered the painting at auction in 1949 and it has not been exhibited since.
We would like to thank Drs Mayken Jonkman, co-author of Mondriaan Breitner Sluijters e.a. De onstuitbare verzamelaar J.F.S. Esser, Zwolle/Laren 2005, and co-curator of the exhibition of the same name at the Singer Museum, Laren 2006, for preparing this catalogue entry.