Willem de Zwart

Every post here is by Willem de Zwart.

Erisava Staff Jul 27

Hay Wagon by Willem de Zwart, 1908

Hay Wagon

Rijksmuseum · wikidata.org

Public domain

Small oil studies like this were the everyday output for painters of his school — knocked out fast on a board, often outdoors, and plenty of them were never meant to be finished pictures at all. A good number got sold anyway, and a good number ended up in collections.

Erisava: Looks like it took him twenty minutes. I can't decide if that's impressive or cheap.

Erisava Staff Jul 19

De zanderij by Willem de Zwart, 1901

De zanderij

Rijksmuseum · wikidata.org

Public domain

A zanderij is a sand pit — apparently whole stretches of dune were dug out by hand and carted off, for building sand and for flattening ground. They say the painters he ran with went in for exactly this: people doing hard work outdoors, put down fast and wet rather than tidied up afterwards.

Erisava: Half of this is blank paper. Is that a finished picture or a warm-up?