1638 -1709 · Amsterdam and Dutch landscape of the Golden Age

Winding paths, water mills and breakthroughs of light make Meindert Hobbema one of the most sensitive landscapers of the Dutch Golden Age.

Meindert Hobbema was born in Amsterdam in 1638, the son of a carpenter, and died in the same city in 1709. Placed in an orphanage as a teenager, around 1655 he became a student of Jacob van Ruisdael, the great master of landscape Dutch. His first works take up the structures of his teacher: paths, trees, waterways and cloud masses organize deep spaces. Hobbema, however, developed a clearer and more welcoming atmosphere. He specializes in the undergrowth, edges, village entrances and especially the water mills observed in the east of the Netherlands. Light crosses foliage, illuminates a roof or a wheel, then leads the eye towards a lively horizon small figures. In 1668, Hobbema married Eeltje Vinck and became municipal wine gauge of Amsterdam. This stable function greatly slowed down his pictorial production. He nevertheless continued to paint occasionally and in 1689 created his most famous work, Avenue de Middelharnis. The spectacular alignment of the trees, the central road and the side paths create a perspective geometry of great modernity. The two versions offered in the collection recall the exceptional fortune of this motif, later admired by Van Gogh, Pissarro and other artists. The water mill and the entrance to a village show the other side of his art: a landscape composed with care, but brought to life by the sun, water, human activities and the variety of foliage. The "Meindert Hobbema" selection notably compares Middelharnis Avenue and Middelharnis Alley. His reading favors movement.

At Meindert Hobbema, the path is never a simple detail: it crosses the trees, organizes the light and invites the eye to enter the landscape.