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Children of the Sea
Jozef Israëls, 1872, painting, SK-A-2382
This delightful scene contains a moral. These children from a poor fishing village with their shabby clothes and broken toys, are playing out their own future. The oldest boy carries the burden of his family on his shoulders, while the boat represents the harsh life at sea. Jozef Israëls first…
On display in room 1.18
Girl in a White Kimono
George Hendrik Breitner, 1894, painting, SK-A-3584
Inspired by Japanese prints, Breitner painted at least twelve versions of this girl in a white kimono around 1894. Each time, her pose is different and the kimono is a different colour. Here the embroidered white silk kimono with red trimmed sleeves and orange belt are what draw our attention. The…
On display in room 1.18
Self-portrait
Vincent van Gogh, 1887, painting, SK-A-3262
After he heard his brother Theo describe the new colourful style of French art, Vincent decided in 1886 to move to Paris. He soon began experimenting with the new idiom in a series of self portraits. This was mainly to spare the expense of using models. Here he painted himself as a debonnaire…
On display in room 1.18
A Windmill on a Polder Waterway,…
Paul Joseph Constantin Gabriël, c. 1889, painting, SK-A-1505
‘Our country is colourful, juicy, fat. (...) I repeat, our country is not dull, not even in dull weather, the dunes are not dull either’, Constant Gabriël wrote in a letter. Unlike many artists of the Hague School, he preferred painting fine summer days. Here there are two: the grass, sky and…
On display in room 1.18
Portrait of Don Ramón Satué
Francisco de Goya, 1823, painting, SK-A-2963
Goya was well-known as a court-painter and for his idiosyncratic prints. He had already turned 76 when he painted this powerful portrait. Don Ramón was a judge in the highest tribunal of Castile. The casual pose and open collar have an informality Goya usually reserves for the portraits of his most…
On display in room 1.13
The Singel Bridge at the…
George Hendrik Breitner, 1898, painting, SK-A-3580
Breitner often took photos when preparing a painting. Several preparatory photos for this painting are also known. The way the woman is walking directly towards us and the way the picture is cropped gives it a photographic feel. Originally, Breitner’s subject was a maid, but following the negative…
On display in room 1.18
The Battle of Waterloo
Jan Willem Pieneman, 1824, painting, SK-A-1115
Emperor Napoleon met his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. This painting – the largest at the Rijksmuseum – shows the moment when the tide turned: the British general Wellington hears that the Prussian army is approaching. Victory, and an end to twenty years of war, is at hand. The…
On display in room 1.12
Italian Landscape with Umbrella…
Hendrik Voogd, 1807, painting, SK-A-4688
Voogd was known as the Dutch Claude, after the French painter Claude Lorrain, who was famous for his historical landscapes bathed in a golden glow. Voogd depicted the garden at Villa Borghese in Rome late in the afternoon: the sun casts long shadows and the trees stand out starkly against the sky.…
On display in room 1.12
Silver cabinet
Jan Adolf Hillebrand, 1844, BK-R-4927
As a young cabinetmaker, Hillebrand presented this neo-Gothic showpiece at an industrial exhibition in Leeuwarden in 1844. His ambition was rewarded. King Willem II bought the silver cabinet, having acquired a taste for Gothic art as a student in England. Different Gothic elements are ingeniously…
On display in room 1.15
Piano Practice Interrupted
Willem Bartel van der Kooi, 1813, painting, SK-A-1065
A native of Friesland, artist Van der Kooi specialised in painting children. The children in this painting are shown in a playful, spontaneous pose. It could almost be a snapshot. Yet appearances are deceptive. The artist arranged the children deliberately to form a triangular composition. And we no…
On display in room 1.12