Willem Roelofs
Willem Roelofs (born March 10, 1822 in Amsterdam , † May 12, 1897 in Berchem ) was an important Dutch landscape painter , watercolorist , etcher , draftsman , lithographer and entomologist . He is one of the first Dutch painters of the classic painting of romance to that of Impressionism are changed. This makes him one of the forerunners and founders of Impressionist painting of the Hague School .
Life
Willem Roelofs was born in Amsterdam in 1822 as the son of a brick manufacturer. When he was 4 years old, the family moved to Utrecht , where Willem started drawing as a child. His first painting dates from 1837. He was determined to become a painter , so he took painting lessons from the amateur painter Abraham Hendrik Winter at a young age . During this time he saw paintings by the living masters for the first time at exhibitions in Amsterdam and Rotterdam .
Roelofs learned to paint at the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten ( The Hague ). In 1840 he joined the class of landscape and animal painter Hendrik van de Sande Bakhuyzen , with whom he went on a study trip to Germany a year later .
Until 1846 he lived with his parents in Utrecht. A year later he founded the artists' association Pulchri Studio in the house of Jan Hardenberg with Johan Hendrik Weissenbruch , Jan Weissenbruch , Jan Frederik van Deventer , Willem Antonie van Deventer , Jacob Jan van der Maaten and Johannes Bosboom . Lessons, art reviews and exhibitions were organized there. In the same year he moved to Brussels , where he lived until 1887.
In 1848 he exhibited his work for the first time at the Exposition Generale exhibition in Brussels. The exhibition was a great success for Roelofs, evidenced by the fact that the King of Belgium bought one of his landscape paintings. After this success, many orders followed.
From 1856 he regularly spent the summers in the Netherlands , including in Het Gooi and an der Vecht , Noorden , Kortenhoef , Loosdrecht , Meerkerk , Gouda , Reeuwijk and Leidschendam . He was looking for unsuspected motifs and found them in the wetlands around Nieuwkoop . At first he wanted to keep this discovery a secret from his colleagues.
In the 1850s and 1860s he often went near the Senne near Belgian Limburg and Kempen . His exhibited pictures of the polder landscapes inspired many painters of the Hague School and opened the public's eyes to the poetry of this landscape. In 1856 he founded the Société royale belge des aquarellistes together with other painters . He was closely involved in the artistic life of the city, and many works by his Belgian colleagues show a relationship to his paintings.
In 1870 his wife died. Three years later he married Albertine Vertomme, and his two sons Albert (1877–1920) and Willem Elisa (1874–1940) later also became painters. In 1877 he moved back to The Hague with his family. From 1892 his health got worse and worse, but he still did not give up painting. In 1897 he died in his brother's house in Berchem , near Antwerp .
Barbizon School
In 1851, 1852 and 1856 he traveled to Barbizon and Fontainebleau . The French painters of the famous Barbizon School lived and worked there . During his time in Brussels he made connections between the Barbizon School and the landscape painters of the Hague School.
Encounter with Vincent van Gogh
On November 1, 1880, Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo that, as advised, he had visited the well-known painter Willem Roelofs on Haachtsesteenweg in Brussels.
“That from now on I will concentrate on drawing from nature, i. H. Whether plaster or model, but not without guidance from someone who understands it well. And he and others also seriously advised me to go to a drawing academy, at least for a while, here or in Antwerp or anywhere I could, and I think I should actually do something to get admitted to this drawing academy , although I don't particularly like the idea. "
plant
Willem Roelofs was considered the forerunner of the Hague School, a group of painters who focused on the light and atmosphere in nature . Roelofs was one of the first Dutch artists who henceforth rejected the motifs of romantic painting. In keeping with the Barbizon School, he painted calm scenes of unspoiled nature. His early landscapes with high cloudy skies , capricious ponds and meadows populated with cattle are particularly typical of the school.
In his early work (up to the middle of the 19th century) one can still recognize the typical painting of the Romantic period. After this time you can clearly see the influence of the Barbizon School and Impressionism.
Works (selection)
| image | title | Size, material | Exhibition / collection / owner |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Landscape with trees and water | 31.5 × 41 cm, oil on panel | Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum , Rotterdam |
 |
The Rainbow | 95.2 × 147.7 cm, oil on canvas | Gemeentemuseum The Hague |
 |
Mill near Abcoude | 45 × 68 cm, oil on canvas | Rijksmuseum Amsterdam |
 |
Three cows by a pond | 33.6 × 50.6 cm, watercolor on paper | Rijksmuseum Amsterdam |
 |
Early morning | 152 × 82 cm, oil on canvas | Private collection |
 |
Polder landscape with a mill | 80 × 100.8 cm, oil on canvas | Gemeentemuseum The Hague |
 |
View of Rio de Janeiro | 26.5 × 44.5 cm, watercolor on paper | Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo |
 |
Land route near Laren | 27 × 42 cm, oil on canvas | Rijksmuseum Amsterdam |
 |
Cows in the afternoon | 180 × 230 cm, oil on canvas | Mariano Procópio Museum , Juiz de Fora |
 |
Lake near Loosdrecht | 30 × 45 cm, oil on canvas | Rijksmuseum Amsterdam |
 |
The bridge over the river IJssel in Doesburg | 24.5 × 49.5 cm, oil on canvas | Rijksmuseum Amsterdam |
Permanent exhibitions (selection)
During his lifetime, many of his works were shown to the public at exhibitions . Today his paintings and watercolors are in important Dutch museums , such as B. the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) or the Gemeentemuseum (The Hague). Some museums also have his work internationally. B. the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo.
Exhibitions (selection)
In 2006 and 2007, as part of the retrospective The Breath of Nature , his work was shown again in solo exhibitions for the first time . From November 26, 2006 to February 25, 2007 the works were exhibited in the Jan Cunen Museum in Oss and from March 17 to May 13, 2007 in the Kunsthalle Rotterdam . The exhibitions were accompanied by a monograph with an exhibition catalog .
Further exhibitions with his works:
- The Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo: Impressionists and Post-Impressionists from the Netherlands , 1980
- Pulchri Studio, The Hague: Ivo Bouwman, 20 years art dealer , 1992
- Gemeentemuseum, The Hague: New Light: The Hague School Unveiled , 2009
- Singer Museum, Laren: Holland's Impressionism , 2013
student
Well-known students were u. a.
- Hendrik Willem Mesdag
- Albert Roelofs
- Adrianus van Everdingen
- Paul Joseph Constantin Gabriël
- Frans Smissaert
- Willem de Famars Testas
- Alexander Mollinger
entomology
Willem Roelofs not only studied painting, but also collected insects . He made studies of weevils and published them in various scientific journals. In 1855 he founded the Belgian Society of Entomology (Entomology), whose president he became the 1878th He is considered one of the pioneers of entomology in Belgium.
bibliography
- Dr. J. de Gruyter: The Hague School , 1968
- EM Aarts: 19th century paintings by Dutch or French painters , 1997
- Marjan van Heteren; Robert-Jan te Rijdt: Willem Roelofs, 1822–1897, De Adem der Natuur (about an exhibition), 2006, ISBN 90-6868-432-9
- Jan Jaap Heij: Holland's Impressionism , 2013
Web links
- A work by Roelofs in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Willem Roelofs on art bus (Netherlands)
- Willem Roelofs on Van Gogh Route (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Roelofs, Willem |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | important Dutch landscape painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 10, 1822 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Amsterdam |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 12, 1897 |
| Place of death | Berchem near Antwerp |