Zeegezicht met het wandelhoofd Koningin Wilhelmina te Scheveningen c. 1920

Johan Antonie de Jonge made this watercolor, Zeegezicht met het wandelhoofd Koningin Wilhelmina te Scheveningen, in the early 20th century. The muted tones, mostly greys and blues, give it a melancholic, almost dreamy quality. It really feels like a fleeting moment captured in paint, a memory fading at the edges. Look at how the washes of color blend into each other, creating soft, undefined shapes. There's a real sense of the artist letting the medium do its thing, allowing the water to carry the pigment across the page. That one darker patch on the right, it bleeds down the page, anchoring the whole composition. It's like a punctuation mark, a moment of emphasis in an otherwise fluid scene. This reminds me of Whistler's seascapes, where atmosphere and mood take precedence over detail. There’s a similar sensitivity to light and color, a desire to evoke a feeling rather than depict a scene with photographic accuracy. It's less about what's there and more about how it makes you feel.