1629 -after 1684 · Rotterdam, Delft and Amsterdam

Sunny courtyards, aligned doors and domestic gestures make Pieter de Hooch a master of inhabited space in the Dutch Golden Age.

Pieter de Hooch was born in Rotterdam in 1629 and died after 1684 in unknown circumstances. Son of a mason and a midwife, he is said to have been trained by Nicolaes Berchem. His first scenes show soldiers, drinkers and stables in dark interiors. Installed in Delft, he entered the guild of Saint-Luc in 1655 and developed the language that would make his reputation. Courtyard, passage, room, street and garden are linked by open doors and axes of perspective. The light does not just illuminate: it connects spaces and gives value to ordinary gestures. The courtyard, passage, room, street and garden are linked by open doors and axes of perspective. The light does not just illuminate: it connects spaces and gives value to ordinary gestures. The courtyard of a house in Delft, dated 1658, combines old bricks, tiles, vegetation, servant and child in one balance of architectural precision and restrained tenderness. Woman with child in a pantry and Mother delousing her child show domestic care as an activity worthy of attention. Card Players in a Rich Interior herald the Amsterdam period, where De Hooch painted larger houses, more luxurious fabrics and a darker palette. His work dialogues with that of Vermeer, active at the same time in Delft, but De Hooch is distinguished by the multiplication of thresholds and the almost tactile construction of architecture. At home, the house is never a simple setting: it organizes the relationships between work, family, sociability and outlook. The selection "Pieter de Hooch" notably compares The Court of a House in Delft and Woman with Child in a Pantry. His reading favors composition.

De Hooch paints light as a path: she crosses the door, touches the tiles, joins a figure and transforms the house into a sensitive order of human relationships.