Koeien bij een plas 1844 - 1910

Willem Maris painted "Koeien bij een plas" with watercolor on paper. Watercolor is a very immediate medium. It is portable, allowing for outdoor work, and relatively quick to dry. Notice how the artist's chosen materials and processes influence the appearance of this painting. Maris has used thin washes of color to capture a fleeting moment in nature. The transparency of the watercolor allows the white of the paper to shine through, creating a luminous effect. With fluid brushstrokes, he has evoked the damp atmosphere of the Dutch landscape. In Maris’ time, painting ‘en plein air’, as it’s called, was still a relatively new trend. Before pre-mixed colors in tubes were available, artists usually worked in the studio from sketches. Maris embraced the freshness that watercolor offered, a directness akin to craft practices. His deft handling of the medium elevates a humble scene to a work of art. By attending to such works, we can challenge traditional distinctions between craft and fine art.