The rural Dutch landscapes of artist Willem Maris (1844-1910) will be the focus of a solo exhibition at Gemeentemuseum Den Haag (The Hague) from 21 January to 9 April 2012. Featuring the fresh, vivid palette which earned Maris the nickname of the ‘Hague School Impressionist’.

Willem was the third in a family of five children. His two brothers Jacob and Matthijs Maris preceded him as painters.  He remained true to the subjects he had chosen in his youth: meadow landscapes with willows and ditches, cows grazing in boggy grassland, a spray of sunbeams, ducks splashing around at the edge of a pond. His paintings and watercolors are best known for his emphasis on light.

Maris' often cited motto was: "I don't paint cows, but rather effects of light." His early work in particular often contained a cool, cloudy atmosphere. Someone wrote: " In those days, the young painter had a pronounced preference for shrouds of mist, which is quite peculiar. On several occasions he angrily broke off his study trips as soon as the sun and wind had chased away the early morning mist."

The exhibition is accompanied by photographs of country scenes by Dutch photographer Han Singels (b.1942). Since 2000 Singels has been touring the agricultural areas around Amsterdam on his moped, tracking down remnants of the romantic Dutch landscape of yesteryear.

Illustrations: Willem Maris, The Calves, c. 1863, The Mesdag Collection / Han Singels, Germense Waard, 2006, courtesy Van Zoetendaal.