Zeegezicht met zonsondergang c. 1901 - 1927

Johan Antonie de Jonge made this seascape with watercolors. The painting is all about the atmosphere, that moment when the sun kisses the horizon goodnight, right? You can almost feel the dampness in the air. I imagine de Jonge standing there, trying to capture something so fleeting. The thin paint kind of helps, like he's trying to keep up with something fast. Look how he's layered the washes of color – greys, blues, and these almost-yellows – to give the sense of light fading, or maybe a storm rolling in. The horizon is the most direct mark in the piece, where it almost violently intersects with the sky. That slice of color divides sea and sky, heaven and earth. Painters are always looking at each other's work. De Jonge has something in common with Whistler, maybe? Or Turner? Artists who get the sea, and know that every painting is just a moment in a long, ongoing conversation.