HENDRIK WILHELM MESDAG (Groningen 1831-1915 The Hague) Wide sea with sailing boats. Oil on wood. Signed lower right: H W Mesdag. 30.5 × 41.7 cm. Provenance: - Collection P. de Koning (former consul of New Zealand). - Dutch private collection, Breda, until at least 1984. - Swiss private collection. The vast sea that Hendrik Willem Mesdag shows us in this atmospheric painting is bathed in the deep evening light of the North Sea. The sky seems to be clearing after a cloudburst, with only a few heavy dark clouds on the horizon still bearing witness to the storm and rain that must have recently fallen over the now smooth surface of the water. The evening sun is already breaking through the clouds and in places the blue sky can already be seen behind the grey clouds. Mesdag succeeds impressively in reproducing the evening light in the sky and water. In particular, the sparse yet effective colour accents, such as the bright red of the horizon line and the patches of light blue in the sky, lend the composition a lively freshness. This outstanding treatment of colour and light makes it clear that this painting was created at the zenith of Mesdag's artistic career. The painting style, with coarse, impasto and dynamic brushstrokes in the sky and finer and more regular brushstrokes in the water, also contrasts the two forces of nature. The small sailing boats that Mesdag places in the centre of the horizon impressively convey the endless expanse of the sea. The detail Mesdag has chosen for this painting gives the viewer the impression of standing on the beach, whereby the lack of a shoreline in the foreground directs our focus directly to the sea. This emphasises the peaceful atmosphere of the sea and Mesdag's love for the beauty of the North Sea. Hendrik Willem Mesdag was already a highly successful, esteemed and highly decorated painter during his lifetime. He exhibited regularly at the Salon in Paris and was awarded the gold medal there as early as 1870. From 1889 to 1907 he was chairman of the Pulchri Studio artists' association in The Hague, in 1901 he was awarded the Order of the Netherlands Lion and in 1906 he also received the Golden Medal of Honour for Art and Science from Queen Wilhelmina of Orange-Nassau. The present work is registered and documented in the H. W. Mesdag Archive of the RKD in The Hague. Christiaan Lucht, M.A., confirms its authenticity by means of a photograph, for which we thank him.