Autumn Landscape c. 1875 - 1903

Johan Hendrik Weissenbruch painted this oil on canvas titled, Autumn Landscape, sometime in the late 19th century. The painting depicts a placid scene in the Netherlands, and its muted palette and simple subject matter are typical of the Hague School. This movement was partly a reaction to the rigid academic painting that dominated much of the art world, with its emphasis on history and mythology. Instead, artists like Weissenbruch turned to the local landscape and the lives of ordinary people. The image cultivates an aesthetic of humble realism. These artists sought a more authentic, democratic form of art, and they were influenced by similar movements elsewhere in Europe, particularly the Barbizon School in France. To fully understand works like this, we need to delve into the art criticism of the period, exhibition records, and artists’ correspondence, to appreciate how artists positioned themselves in relation to the established institutions. That's how we can start to grasp the social and political meanings of their chosen subjects.