Dutch Light
Author: Hank Kune Issue: 2023-05-03
Dutch Light
by Hank Kune
Dutch light is a concept in art and photography, and in the minds & hearts of people living here in The Netherlands. We’re a green and rainy country, and the light is often soft and luminous, an effect enhanced by the amount of moisture in the air.
According to the film Dutch Light by Pieter-Rim de Kroon & Maarten de Kroon, which** **explores the science behind Dutch light and how the unique atmospheric conditions of the region contribute to its luminous qualities:
Dutch Light gives us time to contemplate what we see. We’ve grown accustomed to shifting our attention from one thing to the next, never pausing to examine things properly. No sooner is the television on than we anticipate what we might see on other channels. We’ve lost our feeling for subtlety and rarely have an opportunity to discover things for ourselves. Dutch Light gives us time to engage and to respond.The painter Johannes Vermeer (1632 –1675) is considered by many to be a ‘master’ of capturing Dutch light on canvas. Vermeer used light to create luminous, ethereal effects in his work, often highlighting his subjects with a soft, diffused light seeming to emanate from within the painting itself. The subtle glow of a pearl or a piece of silverware, the luminous radiance of a face or a piece of fabric – he painted them as no one else.
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has a much-acclaimed special exhibition of Vermeer’s work, featuring 28 of the 37 paintings attributed to him. On a late-April visit to the exhibition I took a few photographs of them, both entire paintings and details.
Vermeer painted brilliant interiors with people caught in the very acts of life; but he was not a master of painting Dutch skies. This is where others such as Jacob van Ruisdael, Hendrick Avercamp, and Jan van Goyen excelled. Their work invites our eyes to expand into the landscapes of their enormous skies. They produced marvelous paintings as well, also inviting us to take the time to contemplate what we see, to engage with it and to respond.
According to the documentary The Dutch Light,
There’s an ancient myth that the light in Holland is different from anywhere else, but it has never been put to the test. It’s the legendary light we see in paintings. The German artist Joseph Beuys, however, says that it lost its unique radiance in the 1950s, bringing an end to a visual culture that had lasted for centuries.Whether we agree with Beuys or not, it give us something to consider. If it’s true here, it may also be true elsewhere.
And yet, April skies this year do still have an evocative power. Here are a few – taken from my kitchen window or just around the corner – which I wish Ruisdael, or especially Vermeer were still here to do.
Vermeer is gone, but his paintings live on.
And Dutch light too.
[Image not included in the current archive. Images may be included in the future.]
Related:
- Hank Kune (author)
- 2023 (year)
- Topics: Narrative and Storytelling