The Storm

1637, Jan van Goyen

  • © Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck / Sammlung Rau für UNICEF, Foto: Peter Schälchli, Zürich
    Jan van Goyen, The Storm, 1637
    © Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck / Rau Collection for UNICEF, photo: Peter Schälchli, Zürich

About the Work

Oil on wood, 23.5 x 36.5 cm

Inscribed on lower left-hand side: "V. G. 1637"

Jan van Goyen was one of the trailblazers of realist landscape painting of the seventeenth century, which focused on the representation of the homeland. His atmospheric painting style allowed him to capture its beauty, thereby expressing the widely held opinion that Arcadia was also to be found in front of one's own front door. The artist limits the cast to just a small number of characters: the atmospheric depiction of space, light and atmosphere was his main concern. The suggestive, relaxed painting style with clearly visible brushstrokes, through which the brown wood of the panel can be glimpsed in some places, increases the forcefulness of the natural spectacle that is the subject of the painting.

Jan van Goyen was born in Leiden in 1596 and died in Den Haag in 1656.

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