Simon de Vlieger Estuary at Dawn c. 1640/1645 oil on panel National Gallery of Art, Washington, Patron's Permanent Fund and Gift in memory of Kathrine Dulin Folger

One can also see the impact of Dutch art on Van Gogh. In the late nineteenth century artists of the Hague school were particularly influenced by the traditions of seventeenth-century Dutch art the art of the golden age. It was both a source of inspiration and a burden for artists to seek to live up to the grand tradition of Frans Hals, Rembrandt, and Johannes Vermeer. Bound by a sense of national identity, they paid tribute to their Dutch heritage by drawing on these earlier models.

Artists of the Hague school were also strongly influenced by the Barbizon school in France, the "modern painting" of landscape based on a romantic vision that celebrated nature and actual experience. Ironically, Barbizon landscape itself was deeply indebted to seventeenth-century Dutch painting. Thus the Barbizon painters enabled their Dutch contemporaries to look at their history as interpreted by others and take a fresh viewpoint.

Estuary at Dawn, by Simon de Vlieger, is a seventeenth-century Dutch rendering of a popular theme, the seascape. Comparing this evocative marine painting with Van Gogh's version of the theme, one can see that Van Gogh was working within the Dutch tradition. There are similarities in palette, which in both works tends to be dark and gray. The somber coloring is typical of Hague school paintings (also nicknamed the Gray school). It was an artistic response to the dark, damp climate of the Netherlands. Both de Vlieger and Van Gogh reflected what they saw, including dense, heavy clouds over a broad, flat horizon. In Scheveningen Beach in Stormy Weather Van Gogh chose to depict a moment before what he called an angry storm, when the color of the sea was like dirty dishwater.

The Hague school artists are set apart from many of their French contemporaries by their attitude toward realism: they opted for a subjective rather than an objective approach. They wished to bring temperament and expression into their art and promote an individual, personal kind of realism. In that way, Van Gogh was in step with his Dutch colleagues. He would maintain this personal, subjective approach throughout his career.

previous | next | image overview Commentary | Activities | Study Sources | Pronunciation Guide