Meijer de Haan: A master revealed
An entry in the register of the academy notes that Meijer J. de Haan was accepted to follow four or more lessons per week. Not long after beginning his studies, De Haan was taken ill “so that he enjoyed few of the fruits of his studies” and had to leave the academy in 1875.17 The disappointment of having to leave the academy had little effect on Meijer de Haan’s artistic ambitions. In 1875, he submitted De kleine huishoudster (The Little Housekeeper) to the Exhibition of the Works of Living Masters held in The Hague. [8] His asking price for the painting was 300 gulden.18 The work remained unsold and appeared later that the same year in an exhibition held by the art society Artibus Sacrum in Arnhem.19 In 1876, the painting was exhibited at the Exhibition of Art in Rotterdam with an asking price of 175 gulden. The asking price for Den Haan’s second submission to the Rotterdam exhibition, De kleine kokette (The Little Coquette) was 225 gulden.20 [9] Social Rise and a Studio of His Own During the 1870’s, the De Haan family achieved upward mobility of a sort reflective of economic and social changes in Jewish Amsterdam at the time. In 1872, De Haan’s brother Samuel set out on his own to establish a bakery at Valkenburgerstraat 186.21 The bakery was later to grow to become De Stoommeelfabriek De Amstel en Broodfabriek De Haan (The Steam-Powered Flour Mill De Amstel and Bread Bakery De Haan) located on the
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Academic Years
Uilenburgergracht just behind Valkenburgerstraat 186 in
On Monday, November 2, 1874, two years after the death of
Amsterdam.22 [10 and 11] In 1877, two years after the death of
his teacher P. F. Greive, Meijer de Haan sat for entrance exams
his mother, Meijer de Haan moved in with Samuel.23 Municipal
at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in company of Nicolaas
change-of-address documents list De Haan’s profession at the
Steffelaar and J.S.H. Kever, two of his fellow pupils at Greive’s
time as kunstschilder (artist-painter). A year later De Haan set
studio. The exam consisted of drawing “studies from life” in the
up a studio of his own on the second floor of a newly renovated
“nudes class.” 16 De Haan and his companions were sufficiently
residential building, Valkenburgerstraat 188, located adjacent
skilled in anatomy and drawing to be admitted to the academy.
to the mill and bakery.24
6 Meijer de Haan, Petrus Franciscus Greive, c.1872, oil on wood, 14.5 x 11.5 cm. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
7 Copy of an entry in the Conscription Register, 1872, no. 1, with a description of the appearance of conscript 181, Meijer de Haan, Stadsarchief Amsterdam (Municipal Archive, Amsterdam).
8 Meijer de Haan, De kleine huishoud足 ster (The Little Housekeeper), c. 1875, oil on canvas, 42,5 x 31,5 cm. Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam.
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In June, 1889, Meijer de Haan returned to Paris to attend the Volpini exhibition. The exhibition was held in the Café des Arts during the Paris Universal Exhibition as a platform for alternative artists, such as Schuffenecker, Gauguin and Bernard, whose works ran contrary to the artistic conventions of the time. Filled with inspiration, De Haan returned to Brittany and, early in August, headed to the village of Le Pouldu to begin his collaboration with Gauguin. A few months later, he wrote to his “dear friend, van Gogh” that he was on a new path. De Haan described the influence of Gauguin in a positive light but his letter also suggests that Gauguin was less than easy to work
35 Restaurant de la Poste et de la Plage, (Buvette de la Plage), Le Pouldu, Finistère, photograph, c. 1900. Former collection of Pierre Le Thoër, Mairie (Town Hall), Clohars Carnoët. © Yves de Ramecourt. >
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36 Meijer de Haan, Ferme sur la côte (Farmhouse near Le Pouldu), 1889-1890, oil on canvas, 90 x 73 cm. Private collection.
with. De Haan added in the same letter that he had been
by Gauguin’s financial problems, “if I had not come to his aid
working on studies every day for two months and that he
these last three months [...] he would have had nothing to eat.”82
planned during the coming year to “restfully calmly paint […] many drawings so as to understand everything well, to know
Late in January, 1890, Meijer de Haan sent a telegram from
everything through and through before speaking.”80 [36]
Le Pouldu to Theo and Jo van Gogh to congratulate them on the birth of their son. One week later, Theo wrote to his brother
On arrival in Le Pouldu, De Haan stayed at the Hôtel Destais.
Vincent that Gauguin was expected to arrive shortly in Paris to
Later, he moved to Buvette de la Plage, owned by innkeeper
try to arrange a way to ensure himself a livelihood. In the same
Marie Henry.81 [35] In a letter to Theo van Gogh, De Haan wrote
letter, Theo mentioned that Meijer de Haan was also in a delicate
of his homesickness for his room on the Rue Lepic but also
financial situation. In words more than somewhat offensive by
of a newly optimistic belief in his own abilities. De Haan and
today’s standards, Theo van Gogh explained, “His family has
Gauguin had just finished decorating the walls of Marie Henry’s
absolutely no understanding as to why he has not remained in
inn with their paintings and De Haan described to Van Gogh in
their midst and because they are miserable Jews they think they
glowing terms his own mural, Labor (Labor), as well as the pieces
might be able to pressure him into returning by withholding
done by of Gauguin. [37] With pride, De Haan related that
his allowance.” Theo also commented on De Haan’s progress,
Gauguin had “sent Vincent a sketch of the mural with an
describing a painting De Haan had sent him – Nature morte: pot
explanation of its colors.” He also conveyed worries occasioned
oignons, pain et pommes vertes (Still Life: Pot with Onions, Bread,
37 Anonymous, Bretton Women Scutch ing Flax (Labor), after the work of the same name by Meijer de Haan, c. 1890, watercolor on paper, 17 x 25,5 cm. Private collection, Paris.
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41 Café Voltaire, place de l’Odéon. Paris (VIème arr.), 1909. Photograph of Jean-Eugène-Auguste Atget (18571927), Albumin print on paper. Paris, Musée Carnavalet. © Eugène Atget / Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet.
introduced Verkade to Gauguin. Both this introduction and De Haan’s introduction to other representatives of symbolism were to prove crucial to Verkade’s artistic development. [40] The Dutch artist Sara de Swart, a friend of Theo van Gogh’s widow Jo Bonger, also sought out De Haan while in Paris. In March, 1891, she wrote to Jo that De Haan had changed his original plan to move to Tahiti with Gauguin and now proposed to remain in Paris.93 On March 23, 1891, a banquet was held for Paul Gauguin at the Café Voltaire in honor of his impending departure. [41] It is not known how long thereafter Meijer de Haan lingered in Paris. The Final Years On February 18, 1893, Meijer de Haan was registered in the municipal rolls of the village of Hattem on the IJssel river in the Netherlands. His presence in Hattem spared him the site of the fire that on February 23 destroyed much of his family’s mill and bakery business in Amsterdam.94 [42 and 43] In Hattem, De Haan lodged at the boarding house of the Klaver family, where his cousin and pupil, Louis Hartz, was also living at the time.95 [44] During De Haan’s stay in France, Hartz had used the studio on the Valkenburgerstraat but moved to Hattem in 1892 to join a small colony of artists that had taken grown around the painter Jan Voerman (1857-1941).96 In her memoirs, the granddaughter of the proprietors of the boarding house recounted this recollection of Meijer de Haan and the time he spent in Hattem: But the lodger that she [proprietress E.L. Klaver-Barendsen] cared for most, her darling, was the painter I. Meijer de Haan [sic], a still single young man from a well-off Amsterdam-Jewish family. He came to Hattem, not as a student of Voerman but as a painter in his own right. […] Perhaps he came to Hattem in the hope that his health would improve, a quiet life, in a healthy region. Indeed, he was already ill and in fact he did not believe that he had much longer to live. […] He did not avoid gallows humor, not even relating to his own possibly not so far off death. This Mister De Haan – that is what she always called him – made an unforgettable impression on the family of my grandparents. […] I do not believe that he still painted much in those years. The only work of his that I ever saw was a small floral piece done in oils, dark violets, impressionistically done.97 In the autumn of 1893, while still in Hattem, Meijer de Haan renewed contact with Jo Bonger, the widow of Theo van Gogh, 42 Anonymous, De ruïne van de brood fabriek ‘de Haan’ na de brand (Ruins of the Bread Factory “De Haan” in the Aftermath of the Fire),1893, lithograph, 27,6 x 24.2. Stadsarchief Amsterdam (Municipal Archive, Amsterdam).
43 Anonymous, Flour mill “De Amstel” directly after the fire), 1893, photograph, Stadsarchief Amsterdam (Municipal Archive, Amsterdam).
44 Anonymous, Kruisstraat te Hattem, c. 1850, watercolor on paper, dimensions of the original unknown. Regional Archive Epe, Hattem, and Heerde,
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As with De Haan’s, studios furnished in stereotypical “Old
beautiful watercolors by Johannes Bosboom. It was regarded
Dutch” styles and containing antique furniture supplemented
as a model studio and was heavily visited by artists and art-
with contemporary objects were typical amongst Dutch painters
lovers.7
of the time, the earliest among them being the workplace of Huib van Hove (1814-1864). In 1902, the painter Theophile de
This style persisted into the twentieth century. The interior
Bock, recalled the studio of Van Hove:
portraits of the studios of well-known Dutch artists taken in 1903 by photographer Sigmund Löw (1845-1910) provide
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His studio, furnished in the style of a seventeenth-century
evidence of the fashions according to which leading painters
Dutch regent, with wood-paneled walls, wall-hangings, and
and sculptors still arranged their workplace as the new
antique furniture tastefully upholstered, was located in the
century began. The studio of the painter John Hulk (1855-1913)
Hofje van Niekoop, later the location of the painters’ society
provides a case in point. [63] Like De Haan, Hulk surrounded
Pulchri Studio, a location immortalized in a series of especially
himself with seventeenth-century furniture.
62 Alexandre & Co, Het schildersatelier van Meijer de Haan (The atelier of Meijer de Haan), 1896, gelatine silver print. Collection of Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap (KOG), Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
National Identity The fashionableness of real or imagined seventeenth-century Dutch interiors can be traced to the last quarter of the eighteenth century and the positing at that time of the seventeenth century as a “Golden Age” of commercial and cultural achievement in the Netherlands and thereby as a suitable model around which to contrive a modern national identity for the country.8 During the first half of the nineteenth century this artifice manifested itself in the art world in two ways. First, many works were painted in manners imitative of seventeenth century styles, i.e. with attention to detail, 63 John Hulk in his studio at Amsteldijk 17, Amsterdam, photographed by Sigmund Löw, March 17, 1903, gelatine silver print. Collection of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD) (The Netherlands Institute for Art History), The Hague.
64 Hendrik Hollander, Rembrandt schildert de Nachtwacht (Rembrandt Painting the Night Watch), c. 1870, oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm. Present location unknown.
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Blanc’s article on color in Grammaire des arts du dessin.18 These
De Haan’s progress under Gauguin’s tutelage is characterized
treatises on color theory could explain De Haan’s use of the
by a gradual lightening of the colors of his palette. At first,
complementary colors of blue and orange in Nature morte: pichet
this is seen only in his mixing white with the foreground and
bleu et quatre poires, but the experiment is tentative; colors on
background colors, as in the summertime still-life Nature
the fruit float over and under each other and do not model their
morte: vase de lilas, boule de neige et citrons (Still Life: Vase
forms. There is also a slight suggestion of cloisoné outlines
of Lilacs and Snowballs with Lemons) and the yellowish
which were used to flatten the shapes of the pears, thus
cast to all the colors of Broc et betteraves (Jug with Beetroot).
underscoring their two-dimensionality.
[87 and 88]
89 Meijer de Haan, Nature morte aux carottes (Still Life with Carrots), 1889-1890, oil on canvas, 32 x 40 cm. Musée d’Orsay, Paris. © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski
Although De Haan had thought it would take him a year to
Compositions dominated by strong diagonals became common
absorb Gauguin’s ideas, he actually did this more quickly.
in De Haan’s still-lifes, including the impressive Nature morte
By the fall of 1889, De Haan had begun to find his way. The fruit
aux carottes (Still Life with Carrots). [89] Here, the potatoes and
in Nature morte: pommes et vase de fleurs (Still Life: Appels and
beets (not carrots, as the title would suggest) seem to tumble
a Vase of Flowers) clearly demonstrates his newly acquired
down the tilted table, as does the garlic in his Nature morte:
mastery of modeling with color. [91] This is also seen is his
botte d’ail et pot d’étain (Still Life: Bunch of Garlic with Pewter
marked attempt to enliven the flat background with greens,
Pot). [90] Both paintings depict the same pewter pot. The
blues, purples, and pinks.
subtleties of the rich color variations in both are striking,
19
demonstrating De Haan’s mastery of Gauguin’s penchant for 90 Meijer de Haan, Nature morte: botte d’ail et pot d’étain (Still Life: Bunch of Garlic and Pewter Pot), 1889-1890, oil on canvas, 32 x 40 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes, France, deposited by Musée d’Orsay. © MBA, Rennes, Dist. RMN / Adelaïde Beaudoin
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beautiful painting summarizes De Haan’s artistic advancements
De Haan’s major achievement in Brittany was in re-orienting
in 1890: a luminous effect is created by the white under-painting
his style away from the dark, anecdotal work of his Dutch period
that shows through in many areas; the often complementary
towards the bold, brightly colored paintings he created on the
colors are bright and nuanced. The composition suggests an
walls of Marie Henry’s inn in Le Pouldu. Might he have followed
understanding of Japanese prints as well as of Gauguin’s
Gauguin’s lead to explore symbolism in his future work? Or might
interest in flattening picture planes.
he have preferred instead to continue exploring the abstract power of color and line that characterize his Brittany period,
Meijer de Haan’s Legacy
thereby moving towards a more and more abstract style with
Unfortunately, there is almost no written evidence revealing how
a focus on color and flat forms?52 Unfortunately, De Haan was
Meijer de Haan viewed his own work and its development. There
denied all these possibilities. His brothers’ threat to cut his
is only a succinct and moving report in the form of a letter he
allowance forced him to leave Brittany first to Paris and then to
wrote to Theo van Gogh from le Pouldu on October 8, 1890, just
Amsterdam. He never again returned to Brittany. He may not even
before leaving it forever. In it, De Haan described his youth in
have known that Marie Henry was pregnant with his child.53
Holland as “stifling” and “oppressive” and the art world he was part of as “somber” and “narrow-minded.” After more than a
Meijer de Haan left Le Pouldu in early October, 1890. Gauguin
year in Brittany, however, he wrote that he was “overly happy”
left a month later. Both of them met again in Paris, staying at
with “liberal ideas” and prepared, after a year of sketches and
the same hotel at 35, rue Delambre. Gauguin spent the winter
studies, to attempt a complete painting sometime soon. If only
there planning his departure for Tonkin, Madagascar, or Tahiti.
Meijer de Haan would have had more time in Brittany to work
His plans still called for De Haan to join him. Instead, Meijer
with Gauguin, and to independently submerge himself in the
de Haan returned to The Netherlands, where he died of
local landscape with its mystery, unique colors, and light, he
complications of a life-long illness in Amsterdam on Oct 24,
may have been able to move away from the shadow of Gauguin
1895 at the age of forty-three.
50
and to realize his own goal of making “complete canvases.”51
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More time in Brittany also may have enabled him to fuse his
Meijer de Haan’s legacy is not to be found only in his paintings;
intellectual interests and his artistic talents.
it is also seen in Gauguin’s haunting portrayals of his face. Rich
104 Paul Gauguin, Paysage au Pouldu (Landscape at Le Pouldu), 1890, oil on canvas, 73,3 x 92,4 cm. Collection of Mr. And Mrs. Paul Mellon, Image courtesy of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington.
105 Meijer de Haan, Paysage du Pouldu, au verger (The Valley of Kerzellec, Le Pouldu), 1889, oil on canvas, 58,5 x 71,7 cm. Private Collection, Portland, Oregon. Courtesy of Galerie Hopkins-Custot, Paris.
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