Landscape 1890 - 1920

Frans Helfferich created this small landscape painting with oil on panel, but when it was made is anyone's guess. I am curious about the creamy yellow-grey sky, and how the paint is scrubbed and dragged across the surface, becoming a kind of opaque, dreamy atmosphere. I can imagine him out there in the flatlands, squinting at the light, trying to capture the way the land and sky merge into one another, as he builds up layers of thin, washy paint and darker, thicker strokes. I see a tugboat, and a cottage hidden in the trees. What I find really interesting is the way the artist uses texture and colour to create a feeling of depth and distance; it’s as though the painting isn’t just a picture of a place, but a record of his experience of being there. I think of Corot and other landscape painters who were also trying to capture fleeting moments and subjective experiences. Ultimately, it is this personal touch that makes painting so compelling—one artist responding to another across time.