Landschap 1848 - 1888

Anton Mauve made this landscape drawing with graphite on paper; we don't have a specific date, but we know it was sometime before his death in 1888. Mauve belonged to the Hague School, a group of Dutch artists who shared a commitment to realism and depicting the everyday lives of ordinary people. It can be easy to dismiss landscape art as apolitical. However, for artists of Mauve’s era, the land itself was a site of contestation and rapid change. The Netherlands was undergoing industrialization and urbanization, which transformed the physical environment and the social fabric of rural communities. Artists like Mauve captured the quiet beauty of the Dutch countryside. Mauve’s landscapes invited viewers to reflect on their relationship with nature and to consider the impact of modernity on traditional ways of life. As you look at this piece, consider what feelings it evokes in you. Does it make you think about the beauty of nature, or perhaps the impact of human activity on the environment?