George Hendrik Breitner (1857 - 1923) Dutch painter born in Rotterdam. Already from childhood, he was extraordinarily talented, for which he was rewarded during his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague. In 1880, he was expelled from the academy for burning regulations. Two years later, he met with the great Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh. In his works, Breitner prioritised workers and maids, the lower classes, and thus showed his social conscience following the example of Emile Zola. When he came to Amsterdam, he further focused on street scenes and the effect of weather conditions on them. Breitner was also a skilled painter of nudes for which, like Rembrandt, he was criticized because their sincerity diverged from the ideal of beauty. He was a very accomplished artist, and thus could travel, both in Europe and the USA. When he was hospitalized Breitner, he visited his friend Vincent Van Gogh. Although they were friends and colleagues, they later had a falling out when Van Gogh called Breitner’s paintings mouldy wallpaper. After his friend’s death, Breitner admitted that Van Gogh’s art is appropriate only for the Eskimos.