LANDSCAPE AND LABOR: DUTCH WORKS ON PAPER IN VAN GOGH’S TIME
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
mfa.org
through June 22, 2025
Although Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) is among the most famous Dutch artists of all time, in his own era he was relatively little known, especially compared to artists of the Hague School. This group, named for the city where many of its members trained and worked, comprised those who had different styles but shared a devotion to depicting everyday life, looking to the Dutch countryside for subject matter.
Hague School members made a profound impact on artists of their time, and this is especially true of Anton Mauve, whom Van Gogh much admired. The artists went on to achieve international fame, and in the early 1900s U.S. collectors and museums — including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) — eagerly sought their works. Over time, however, the group’s fame faded.
Now the MFA is exhibiting important watercolors, prints, and drawings not only by Mauve and Van Gogh, but also by such forgotten artists as Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch (1824–1903) and Anton van Rappard (1858–1892). In this show, it becomes clear that Hague School artists favored farmers, fisherfolk, laborers, mills, canals, and dunes as their subjects, in part to convey a patriotic love of the countryside. In the densely populated and rapidly industrializing Netherlands, rural subjects recalled a simpler time and a simpler way of life — both of which were quickly disappearing.
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