For most people in the Netherlands, water is the most typical element of Dutch identity. Hannah Koole from Harlingen works on the water. Her \nose in the wind\ is the ultimate freedom for her.
Half of the Netherlands is below sea level. What to do when the sea level rises by meters in the coming centuries? Stichting M5 has made a plan in collaboration with LOLA Landscape Architects t where the west of the Netherlands is being depoldered and the east is being urbanized. Give the water space.
Metropolisfilm has converted the scenarios per city into animated films. The following two videos show a future that may await us.
The water plants in the foreground are depicted with wafer-thin strokes. The cloudy sky is composed of a tangle of broad strokes. The last sunlight disappears behind the clouds, just reflected in the water.
This painting dates from the first year that Mauve lived in Laren. With his paintings of heathlands, flocks of sheep, sandy soils and birch groves, Mauve made the landscape around Laren famous, silver-plated it. That is why people speak appreciatively of Het land van Mauve, always in a silvery atmosphere. His imposing painting The swamp also comes from this area, but is much more threatening and dark.
oil on canvas, 60 x 90 cm
gift of Mr. and Mrs. Drucker-Fraser, Montreux
This beautiful landscape is dominated by a wooden structure, just outside a village centre. It is an overtoom, a fine example of Dutch ingenuity.
Since the beginning of the 17th century, such constructions have been used to drag vessels out of the water over the dike. This bridged the difference in height between two waterways without the intervention of a lock. To the left of the overtoom, several figures can be seen, perhaps waiting for the moment when their boat is dragged over the dike.
oil on canvas, 120 x 169 cm
When Amsterdam received the toll privilege from Floris V in 1275, it was not yet a city; although this date is used by the municipal authorities to celebrate anniversaries. It was not until 1306 that the settlement at the dam on the Amstel received city rights from the bishop. Amsterdam was given its own jurisdiction, its own freedom.
Souvenir dAmsterdam is one of the most famous paintings by Matthijs Maris. He painted it in 1871 in Paris, based on a photo he had bought of the drawbridge at the Haarlemmersluis, using his memory and imagination. He was not too strict about the accuracy of the representation. The drawbridge had already been demolished in the meantime and replaced by a permanent bridge. Did Maris portray himself as a jib on the foreground, peering at the passing woman at the helm? Matthijs Maris painted this work in seven days, purely to earn some money. He was as poor as a rat and actually detested working for the art market. His Drawbridge was bought by a Scottish art dealer. Jenny Reynaerts writes: “In 1874-1875 Van Gogh met Matthijs Maris at the art dealer in London where he worked at the time. He admired Thijs enormously, partly because of his painting Souvenir dAmsterdam […] He asked Maris if he could become his pupil, but Maris characteristically advised him against it: “[...] the best he could do was to hang himself.” […] Maris was a great admirer of Camille Corot, who often described his landscapes as souvenirs and preferred to evoke the memory of them rather than paint a true-to-life representation.[…] Because of this view, both Corot and Maris were regarded by the later Tachtigers, who were also interested in personal experience, much admired.”
When Matthijs himself later saw the work hanging in the art dealers room, he was ashamed of it and wrote about it: “I was embarrassed by it. Those things are not mine. I had made it, but completely against my better judgment, for the money.”
Matthijs Maris is the middle of the three painting brothers, Jacob, Matthijs and Willem. Jacob and Willem Maris were loved. These two brothers are still always in demand and well represented in the selection for Low Countries, Cool Waters and High Skies. They painted the Netherlands as we like to see it, with cows, beach scenes and cloudy skies.
Matthijs Maris did not want to make concessions to the publics taste. He lived in poverty for years, was lonely, a recluse in his studio; an oddball with cult status, misunderstood and maladjusted. He could be irritable and was unpleasant to be around.
With his great desire for freedom and autonomy, he still fits the theme of High Skies. He loved the big city, Paris and London, because he could be more himself there. Matthijs Maris died in London in 1917, admired by a host of English people for his mysterious oeuvre.
oil on canvas, 47 x 35 cm
donation of the heirs of Mr. W.J. van Randwijk, Den Haag
Fun on the ice en fraternization outside the city walls. In the foreground and on the far left, men are playing kolf, a ball game from the Middle Ages, a social game. The expression Dit is een kolfje naar mijn hand (This is a game for me) comes from the game of kolf.
Barend Avercamp learned to paint from his much more famous uncle Hendrick Avercamp from Kampen. Barend Avercamp lived in 17th century Zutphen for about ten years.
oil on panel, 39 x 51 cm
gift from Mr. and Mrs. Kessler-Hülsmann, Kapelle op den Bosch
Until the middle of the 19th century, the canal barge remained the most popular form of public transport in the Netherlands. Thanks to an extensive network of towpaths through the flat, water-rich parts of the Netherlands, travel was easy and cheap. In a turning basin, a widening of the waterway, such as here in the towpath between The Hague and Leiden, a ship that was too wide could be turned by swinging with a lot of steering skill.
oil on panel, 40 x 50 cm
In the sketchily depicted surf of the North Sea, two men fish for shells with scoop nets. Their catch is collected in the ready-made carts. The shells were destined for the lime kilns where they were burned in bottle-shaped lime kilns to make shell lime. This lime was used in construction.
oil on canvas, 115 x 128 cm
donation of Mr. and Mrs. Drucker-Fraser, Montreux
Pieter Mulier specialized in painting seascapes with wild waves and threatening skies. On the right, a sea buoy is floating in the water, marking the shipping channel. The flag of the stad Hoorn, which at the time was situated on the Zuiderzee.
The storm gives Mulier the opportunity to increase the drama in his painting with dark, threatening skies. This must have helped sell his canvas, as dramatic seascapes were popular in the Golden Age.
oil on panel, 39 x 60 cm
Everyday activity on the water is vividly depicted here. Men in a sloop resist the swell of the waves as they moor at the harbour head. Fishing boats sail back and forth. A sloop sails to a return fleet. The mainsail is being taken in on a merchant ship. There is a strong wind; sails and flags are flapping, the waves are foaming against the sloping bow. The painter chose the viewpoint so that it seems as if we are there on the water.
oil on panel, 29 x 37 cm
legacy of jhr. J.S.H. van de Poll, Amsterdam
The painting was painted by Matthias Withoos after a dike breach near the North Holland village of Schardam. The painting shows the restoration work on the breached dike. As far as is known, this is the only 17th-century painting that shows such work.
The dike breached over a length of approximately 120 metres. Instead of straightening the dike again, it was decided to construct the dike around the pool.
Withoos was commissioned to record the restoration work on the Zuiderzee dike in 1675.
The client was Jacob van Foreest, who, as a landowner and member of the Gecommitteerde Raden of Westfriesland and the Noorderkwartier, was partly responsible for the dike restoration after the All Saints Flood of 1675.
oil on canvas
Westfries Museum Collection. Purchased with the support of the Hoogheemraadschap Hollands Noorderkwartier, De Nederlandse Waterschapsbank, Hendrik Muller\s Vaderlandsch Fonds, Kerkmeijer-de Regt Stichting and Friends of the Westfries Museum