Amsterdam. Frederiksplein

J.H. Schaefer made this little view of Amsterdam’s Frederiksplein sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century; it's a postcard of a public park with a fountain, all rendered in soft, gentle colours. The colours are really muted and creamy. Everything is kind of blended together so the outlines are blurred and the forms are soft. It makes me think about the way that colours shift when light changes. It’s easy to see how a painting like this might have been developed through a slow, meditative process, with the artist carefully layering colours to capture a fleeting moment in time. Look at how the artist captured the fountain's spray. The cool blues and greens create a sense of depth and atmosphere. Guys like Corot and Boudin were playing with the same kinds of ideas way back when. This kind of painting is a reminder that art is an ongoing conversation, with each artist building upon the ideas and techniques of those who came before.