Drie kinderen spelend aan het Noordzeestrand 1907 - 1930

Adolphe Burdet painted these children playing at the North Sea beach, but we don’t know when. Look at the surface of the sand; it is made to shimmer in various shades of brown and grey. The surface almost looks like oil on canvas, like it has been scrubbed, and dragged, and coaxed into existence. I wonder what Burdet was thinking when he made this. What was he trying to capture with his brush? The girls’ outfits feel so heavy and formal. And the light is strange – there are no shadows. Yet, it is such a simple painting of kids on a beach. The dark tints make it melancholic, like an old faded photograph. And yet the girl on the left is smiling, and it feels like we are there with her, paddling in the sea. Painters throughout time look at each other’s works and find new inspiration, allowing for endless meaning.