Wijsmuller, Jan Hillebrand (1855-1925), Late Summer River Landscape

Jan Hillebrand Wijsmuller(1855 Amsterdam - 1925 ibid.), Late Summer River Landscape , oil on canvas, relined, 34 x 56 cm (inside measurement), 43 x 64 cm (frame), signed J[an] H[illebrand] Wijsmuller at lower right.

- in good condition, the frame with isolated bumped spots

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- Realistic Impression -

The panoramic landscape format shows a river landscape, with the course of the river, which curves to the right, leading the eye into the depths of the picture and tempting it to continue the landscape in the imagination beyond the visible area. At the same time, however, the fact that the landscape is not visible through the bend in the river focuses our gaze on the entirety of the landscape depicted, without prompting us to focus on distant details. Accordingly, the brushstroke is not designed to render details with realistic precision. In the front left area of the river there is even a completely free brushwork, trained by Impressionism, which nevertheless remains committed to representational and convincingly suggests the movement of the water.

Regardless of the distance of the observer, the entire picture is painted with the same broad brushstroke, so that the landscape is given as an impression. And yet this impression is not ephemeral, as in the case of French Impressionism, to put it exaggeratedly, but reveals to us the essence of the landscape in all its richness. This is why the Dutch variant of Impressionism is always also a realism, although the pictures appear less progressive, but still contain a dimension of landscape painting that is lost with progress.

In the impression, the reality of the landscape is revealed, and this happens as we experience the landscape in the visual impression. Wijsmuller does not depict houses or people in order to allow the experience of the landscape to fully unfold. The experience is determined first and foremost by the river, which does not flow into the picture from our point of view, but towards us. Where the river begins to bend, the water is churned by a rapids. Toward us, the riverbed widens and the water comes to rest, covering the entire width of the foreground like a mirror.

The stillness of the water corresponds to the evening mood of the late summer landscape, in which the warm tones of the evening light blend with the yellow and brown tones of the plants. A gentle, almost idyllic reality, carried by the brushstroke, yet animated by a liveliness that is also made visible by the brushstroke. The broad, dynamically placed brushstrokes evoke the movement of the treetops and animate even the immobile reeds, while the trunks on the right bank, executed in virtuoso white strokes that seem like markings, make the sunlight shine. On the other bank, a carpet of light also spreads out, its energetic effect again expressed in the brushstroke. The dynamic of the landscape is further enhanced by the complementary color contrasts between the greens, yellows, and browns on the one hand and the blue of the all-encompassing sky on the other. A contrast that is intensified by the reflection in the water.

The evening coming to rest of the landscape is thus at the same time an all-encompassing contrasting and yet in itself harmonious movement. This reality becomes accessible to us as an experience in the impression of the landscape.

About the artist

Jan Hillebrand Wijsmuller entered the Royal Academy of Arts in Amsterdam in 1876 and studied under the innovative Professor August Allebé, who was famous for the Amsterdam Impressionism, also known as the Allebé School.

In 1877, Wijsmuller transferred to the Hague Academy of Art, and thus to the Hague School, and then completed his studies at the Brussels Academy of Art. Returning to the Netherlands, Wijsmuller opened his own studio in Amsterdam.

In 1883 he won the prestigious Young Artist Award, donated by Willink van Collen, which made Wijsmuller a well-known and sought-after artist.

Wijsmuller was a member of the Societät Arti et Amicitiae Amsterdam and the Pulchri Studio in The Hague.

Wijsmuller belongs to the second generation of the Hague School. While Vincent van Gogh described the protagonists of the first generation to his brother Theo as "the great gray people," the second generation, and Wijsmuller in particular, used a much more colorful palette. His oeuvre makes him a major player in Dutch Impressionism, the second Golden Age of Dutch painting.

Selection of public collections that own paintings by Jan Hillebrand Wijsmuller:

Historisches Museum , Amsterdam / Rijksmuseum , Amsterdam / Stedelijk Museum , Amsterdam / Museum Willet-Holthuysen , Amsterdam / Dordrechts Museum , Dordrecht / Dienst Verspreide Rijkscollecties , Den Haag / Gemeentemuseum , Den Haag / Museum Mesdag , Den Haag / Stadhuis , Den Haag / Goois Museum , Hilversum / Zeeuws Museum , Middelburg / St. Vrienden Museum Noordwijk , Noordwijk / Belasting & Douane Museum , Rotterdam