Street in Montmartre, Paris

George Hendrik Breitner's 'Street in Montmartre, Paris' (1901) is unusual among his subjects — his Paris subjects showed the most Impressionist-influenced aspects of his practice, the French capital's art world having profoundly shaped his development during his extended Paris visits. Montmartre's specific character (the elevated hill village absorbed into the city, its artists' cafés and the newly completed Sacré-Cœur basilica at the summit) gave the subject a different quality from his Amsterdam street scenes.

Breitner renders the Montmartre street with his characteristic directness adapted to the French urban environment — the specific character of the Parisian streetscape (different from Amsterdam in its building materials, street furniture, and spatial organization) observed with the same informal directness he brought to his Dutch subjects. His handling of the Parisian light and the street's social animation reflects his sustained observation of urban life across different European cities.