In 1886, he made a study trip to Italy then, from 1887 to 1888, performed his mandatory military service. After completing his studies, in 1889, he moved to Kiel and befriended his fellow artist, Ernst Eitner [de]. Upon his recommendation, he later went to work at the Gothmund Artists' Colony [de].[1]
In 1894, he was a founding member of the Schleswig-Holstein Art Cooperative [de]. The following year, he married Anne Nitzsch, the daughter of a Senator from Berlin, and settled in Möltenort, near Heikendorf.[2] From there, he made study trips to Copenhagen and Norway. Together with Fritz Stoltenberg, he established an art school in 1905. He was awarded the Villa Romana Prize in 1907, and stayed in Florence for a year.[3]
From 1912 to 1930, he was a teacher at the Kunstakademie Kassel, and received the title of Professor in 1917. His best known student from this period was the landscape painter, Sepp Vees [de].[4] After 1930, he returned to Möltenort and was active at the Heikendorf Atists' Colony [de].
"Burmester, Georg". In: Ulrich Thieme (Ed.): Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Volume 5 : Brewer–Carlingen. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1911, p.263 (Online)
Ulrich Schulte-Wülwer: Malerei in Schleswig-Holstein. Katalog der Gemäldesammlung des Städtischen Museums Flensburg. Boyens, Heide 1989, ISBN3-8042-0467-8
Ulrich Schulte-Wülwer: Kieler Künstler. Band 2: Kunstleben in der Kaiserzeit 1871–1918. Boyens, Heide 2016, ISBN978-3-8042-1442-2, pp.324–338
Ingo Kroll and Sabine Behrens, Georg Burmester Werkverzeichnis, Heikendorf Art Museum, 2011 ISBN978-3-8423-6073-0