The Kresge Art Museum at Michigan State University has acquired a marinescape, “An Estuary with Row and Sail Boats,” from the late 1640s, by Jan van Goyen, one of the greatest 17th century Dutch landscape painters.
The new work is one of six Dutch paintings added to the museum collection in the past five years.
van Goyen became a master at rendering his native sea and sky in various weather conditions. By 1640, he preferred to represent foul weather as he did in this painting with choppy seas and roiling clouds. Like other Dutch painters at this time, his palette became almost monochrome. With this tonal way of painting restricted to brown, grey and umber with a few highlights of white, he conveys the moisture-laden atmosphere. This painting is a quintessential Dutch view of land and sea. The audacious low horizon, flat land, and vast sky make it feel modern.
Museum director Susan J. Bandes saw the painting at an international art fair in Maastricht, Netherlands in March.
“I had been looking for a painting by van Goyen for several years and this is amongst the most beautiful and exciting examples I have seen on the market,” Bandes said. “It is in wonderful condition and you can still see the swift impressionistic strokes of paint that quickly capture the fleeting weather conditions. Most of the composition is sky, which prefigures paintings done centuries later.”
The painting will be on display through July 31, when the museum closes for summer recess. The museum reopens on Sept. 8.
Kresge Art Museum is located on the first floor of the Kresge Art Center at the intersection of Physics and Auditorium Roads between the Alumni Chapel and the MSU Auditorium. Summer museum hours are Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. and closed Mondays. The museum will be closed July 4 and 5.
For additional information, call (517) 355-7631 or visit www.artmuseum.msu.edu.
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