Day 2: Dutch Painters and the Golden Age

Today we learned a lot about the Dutch painters of the 17th century. As it turns out, a lot of their influence and subjects painted are the result of Dutch independence. Before that, I'm going to talk a bit more about what I did not get to cover yesterday (mainly because I was saving it for today).

A philosophy very important to the Dutch is the idea of "gezellig". It doesn't exactly have an English equivalent, but the closest definition would probably be "cozy". The idea is that creating a cozy living space is very important. Organization and decorations are crucial to a good house, and each decorative item should have a story behind why it's there and how it defines your living space. Paintings were especially important.

Now on to Van Gogh. He lived from 1853-1890 and was a very important artist, since he served as an in-between for traditional painting and modern art. He was definitely very passionate about art, but was crushed to find that art was often all about money. He then left art and worked as a missionary, and while he later went back to art, it was just for himself. His painting style definitely changed when he goes to France, going from very dark to very bright tones. The famous painting Starry Night was from fairly late in his career, when he began to use more abstracted techniques (I think Starry Night was on tour or something though, so we couldn't see it). The Van Gogh museum is actually really cool, since you can see the transformation of his art techniques if you go through it in the right order. When Van Gogh died, all of his unsold paintings went to his brother, who donated the large majority of them to the museum that is in Amsterdam today.

And now we backtrack...a lot...

Before independence, the Netherlands was larger, and would become one of the centers of political change from the societal structure of feudalism. Like most societies, there was a huge gap between the elites, who distinguished themselves as "higher" people, and the peasants and farmers, who lived in conditions similar to slavery. As the aristocracy had a tendency to spend too much money, they had to turn to a rising middle class: the merchants. The merchants agreed to provide money on the condition that they gain certain liberties and become recognized as a "privileged" class with more rights than the peasants. There are special buildings that are still standing today as monuments representing the pride in these new liberties, such as the Belfry of Bruges.

The Netherlands region was ruled over by Charles V, a man born in the Netherlands. Charles V actually ruled over quite a bit, as it was possible for him to say that the sun never sets in his empire. You can imagine that an empire with a description like this must be quite large, so in order to keep control, Charles V needed political structure that had centralized power. He stationed himself in Madrid, placing further pressure on the Low Countries to give up their traditional beliefs (like making them turn to Catholicism).

As a result, the Low Countries were willing to accept new ways of thinking within the Christian church. For example, Erasmus questioned political power in the Christian church, stating that the Pope was more interested in politics than in faith. Martin Luther of Germany also founded his own church within Christianity. Branches of Christianity such as Protestantism and Calvinism were quickly accepted by the Dutch for a few reasons. In the case of Calvinism, it was a religion that did not condemn trade, considering it a positive aspect so long as the power does not corrupt you. In the case of Protestantism, it was a way for the Low Countries to show their dissatisfaction in the current political policies.

Since Charles V was from the Low Countries, he did not want to disrespect them and did not create consequences for not following his political policies. This would change when he resigned and his son, Philip II, came into power. Philip II had been born in Spain and raised Catholic, so other religions such as Protestantism were unacceptable. He began to crack down on the Low Countries, which obviously did not go down well at all. The Dutch organized themselves and conducted an iconoclast movement, in which they went through churches and destroyed symbols of Catholicism, such as images of saints and the Virgin Mary. Philip II becomes very upset and punishes the Protestants with an Inquisition.

Okay, maybe not that Inquisition...

This Inquisition was led by the Duke of Alba, who not only persecuted Protestants, but Catholics who were making deals with Protestants as well. He sentenced three members of aristocratic society to death, which was practically unheard of. Sure, peasants and lower class men died all the time, but the aristocrats could not be touched as far as everyone was concerned. One of these aristocrats managed to escape: William of Orange.

I think I had a little too much fun making this.

William of Orange became the main leader of the resistance, with his Protestant followers being called the geuzen. The war lasted for 80 years, and neither side managed victory. It was at this point that the Low Countries divided into two separate regions: the northern part would eventually become the independent Netherlands, while the southern part remained part of Spain. Once independence was achieved, the Netherlands took on a very tolerant view of religion, and many migrated there to freely practice their faith as a result. Many of these migrants were also wealthy, providing the Netherlands with an economic boost to start their national career.

Amsterdam grew the fastest and became a center of art and culture. Many concepts were brought to fruition here, such as the microscope, telescope, and thermometer. The first sightings of microscopic organisms, such as bacteria and sperm, also took place in the Netherlands. The stock exchange was essentially created here, and the Netherlands also became a world center for map makers to boot.

So what does the independence of the Netherlands have to do with the Dutch style of art? Normally, art in Europe was sold to the elite and the church, and the subjects within the art mirrored this. The church left a sour taste for the Dutch, and the elite were not as powerful as they would be in most countries, so art became something that was available to everyone in the Netherlands. The change in customers was reflected in the increase of smaller paintings as well as an increased interest in landscape paintings and everyday life scenes. A new school of painting was created for this new focus: paintings would now depict lots of water, windmills, and high skies.

There's often several meanings in a painting: the more you look into it, the more you'll be able to find. There is especially an emphasis on vanitas, or the idea that life is short. This idea can visually appear as a flower, candle smoke, soap bubbles, etc. This motif comes up a lot, and the religious history of the Netherlands definitely plays a role in its appearance. Protestantism does not have a confession like Catholicism does. While as a Catholic, you can confess and be forgiven of whatever sins you've committed, you carry your sins for life as a Protestant.

We visited Haarlem, which is more reminiscent of what a city of the 17th century would have looked like than Amsterdam. We visited a museum dedicated to the works of the many artists who lived there, such as Frans Hals. A native of Harlem, Hals was a specialist in portrait paintings. Not only would he make the images realistic, but he could create an element of spontaneity, almost as if you were looking at a photograph. He painted group pictures the most, for while they were more difficult and time-consuming, they made more money--money which he needed.

The regents of St. Elisabeth Hospital in Haarlem

We next visited the Rijksmuseum, which contains many paintings from the Dutch golden age, including Rembrandt's Night Watch. Rembrandt came from the city of Leiden and moved to Amsterdam. He thought landscape and genre painting was too easy, so he tried to paint very odd topics, such as dead bodies. He spent a lot of money as well, so he too became an expert on group paintings. The Night Watch proves that Rembrandt was much more ambitious than Hals was, as there are many more people in this "snapshot" of the beginnings of a night patrol.

The Night Watch

Jan Steen was yet another Dutch painter. He painted more about having a good time, such as representations of popular celebrations. He still added moral messages, though. When this was said during lecture, I didn't think much of it. It wasn't until I actually saw a lot of his paintings when I realized that there were moral messages everywhere.

After looking through the Rijksmuseum, I think that one of my favorite painters was probably Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruisdael. I was absolutely amazed with the attention to detail. Close inspection of his paintings shows incredibly fine brush strokes. I also liked the way he depicted landscapes: the sky and clouds tend to make up about half the painting, really emphasizing the vastness of the landscape. The addition of tiny, drawn-to-scale people in his landscape paintings is especially fascinating.

Today was a good day, but I'm getting tired! I should probably sleep earlier.