Landschap met boerderij c. 1885

Willem de Zwart created this small painting, titled "Landschap met boerderij," with oil on panel. We can see here the Dutch countryside implied in simple shapes and muted colors. Now, the Netherlands in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when De Zwart was active, was undergoing rapid modernization and industrialization, but still maintained its strong ties to the land. Dutch art institutions and academies often promoted landscape painting as a way of expressing national identity and celebrating traditional ways of life. We might ask ourselves, is this painting participating in that nationalistic project? How do the rough, unfinished strokes reflect the changing social landscape? Is the decay we see on the work a reflection of this? A social historian might look at the painting’s provenance, exhibition history, and critical reception to better understand its place within the art world and its broader social context. Only then can we understand the full meaning of this painting.