“I have studied the subject and painted it directly to nature [his painting 'Scheveningen strandgezicht / Scheveningen, beach view'] and I have tried to reproduce that motif simply and unaffectedly, with no desire to make a painting with a lot of 'éclat' [glow].”

— Hendrik Willem Mesdag

translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek

(original Dutch: citaat van Hendrik Willem Mesdag's brief, in het Nederlands:) Ik heb het onderwerp bestudeerd en geschilderd direct naar de natuur [zijn schilderij 'Schevenings strandgezicht' uit 1869] en ik heb getracht dat motief eenvoudig en ongekunsteld weer te geven, zonder er een schilderij met veel éclat van te willen maken.

In a letter to his Belgium friend, the painter A. Verwee, 19 March 1870; as cited in Hendrik Willem Mesdag 1831 – 1915; De Schilder van de Noordzee, Johan Poort; Mesdag Documentaire Stichting cop, ISBN 90-74192-14-9; 2001, p. 15
before 1880

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Hendrik Willem Mesdag 10

painter from the Northern Netherlands 1831–1915

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“.. [both of us (Schelfhout ànd J. C. Schotel)] make each a painting that together will form one view, as it were [view of Scheveningen by Schotel / view of The Hague by Schelfhout].... [but] our paintings together will therefore not become one integrated thing, but only pendants... I have taken my drawing from the steps of the Pavilion [in Scheveningen], viewed over the dunes to [the city] The Hague. In the foreground, which is very bare and empty in reality, I have placed some trees.”

Andreas Schelfhout (1787–1870) Dutch painter, etcher and lithographer

translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek
(original Dutch, citaat van Schelfhout, uit zijn brief:) ..[dat wij beiden, (Schelfhout èn J.C. Schotel )] elk een schilderij te maaken het welk bijde als het ware één gezigt zoude uitmaken [uitzicht van Scheveningen door Schotel, èn uitzicht op het centrum van Den Haag door Schelfhout].. ..[maar] onze schilderijen zullen dus te zamen geen geheel uitmaken, maar slechts pandanten zijn.. .Ik heb de teekening genomen van het bordes of trap van het pavilloen [in Scheveningen] over de duinen naar Den Haag gezien. Op de voorgrond, die in de natuur zeer kaal en ledig is heb ik eenige bomen geplaatst..
In a letter to J.C. Schotel, 18 Nov. 1828; in: collective Stadsarchief van ErfgoedCentrum DIEP, Dordtrecht, No. 48-d
Schelfhout was referring to the assignment from the Dutch King Willem I for two paintings: one view over the old center of The Hague & one view over the beach of Scheveningen.

“I have rented a room in Scheveningen to make studies from nature. It is a room with view on the sea; I hope to make there beautiful things, and to keep moving forward.”

Hendrik Willem Mesdag (1831–1915) painter from the Northern Netherlands

translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek
(original Dutch: citaat van Hendrik Willem Mesdag's brief, in het Nederlands:) ..ik heb een kamer gehuurd in Scheveningen om er studies naar de natuur te maken. Het is een kamer met uitzicht op zee; ik hoop er mooie dingen te maken, en steeds vooruit te gaan.
In a letter to his Belgium friend A. Verwee, 28 Mai 1871; as cited in Hendrik Willem Mesdag 1831 – 1915; De Schilder van de Noordzee, Johan Poort; Mesdag Documentaire Stichting cop, ISBN 90-74192-14-9; 2001, p. 17
before 1880

“To me the motif itself is an insignificant factor; what I want to reproduce is what lies between the motif and me... Other painters paint a bridge, a house, a boat... I want to paint the air in which the bridge, the house and the boat are to be found - the beauty of the air around them, and that is nothing less than the impossible.”

Claude Monet (1840–1926) French impressionist painter

Claude Monet, in an interview, 1895; as quoted in: Paul Hayes Tucker et al. (eds). (1999) Monet in the Twentieth Century. London: Royal Academy of Arts/Boston: Museum of Fine Arts. As cited in: Steven Connor, " About There, or Thereabouts http://www.stevenconnor.com/aboutthere/aboutthere.pdf." talk given at the Catalysis conference on Space and Time, Downing College, Cambridge, 23rd March 2013.
1890 - 1900

“What I've made there - about some years ago, you will never see that again! It's all over; with Scheveningen it's finished. And when I didn't still know everything about the past from those sketches, indeed it [his painting] was definitely over.”

Hendrik Willem Mesdag (1831–1915) painter from the Northern Netherlands

translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek

(original Dutch: citaat van Hendrik Willem Mesdag brief, in het Nederlands:) Wat ik daar gemaakt heb - zo'n jaar of wat geleden, dat krijg je nooit meer te zien! Da's uit, met Scheveningen is 't gedaan. En als ik 't niet alles nog wist van vroeger, uit die schetsen, waarachtig dan was 't [zijn schilderen] afgelopen.

Quote of Mesdag, as cited by nl:Marie Joseph Brusse, in his article 'Onder de menschen. Een gouden schilders-bruiloft', in Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, 23 March 1906

In 1904 the first harbour of Scheveningen was opened, with a direct entrance to the sea for the newer fishing boats, the luggers
after 1880

“I made virtual animals in the computer, life-forms subject to an artificial evolution. I also went walking a lot on the beach and in the streets of Scheveningen for inspiration for my columns. Since 1986 I have been writing pieces for de Volkskrant national daily on matters that interest me. Often these are technical things, fantasies or musings.”

Theo Jansen (1948) artist

Source: The Great Pretender. (2007), p. 9

“It's more like I'm having an experience than making a picture. So I've never had anyone around. I never have. People are different, but I have to really be with no interference. And it takes me hours. Painting a picture is a very short thing if it goes well, but the sitting and thinking... I usually go off on stories that have nothing to do with the painting, and sometimes I sit in the opposite room to where I work. If I can get a good hot story I can paint better, but sometimes I'm not thinking about the painting, I'm thinking about the subject. Lots of times I'll sit in another room and then I might just go in. It takes a lot of freedom. I'm working for two years on a subject now: ten paintings, and that can carry on for two years. I worked last summer and I started this summer and with just the simplest motif I just can't seem to do it. And everything slowed down.”

Cy Twombly (1928–2011) American painter

Source: 2000 - 2011, Cy Twombly, 2000', by David Sylvester (June 2000), pp. 179-180

“Here are 3 drawings that I have made for You. It will be satisfactory, if it will meet your expectation and what it is for [to make a painting]. The two landscapes are thoughts, but the one that suggests the moonlight is the castle at Doorenwaart in Gelderland. I also painted a painting of that subject which I enjoyed a lot in Amsterdam [because, purchased there by A. B. Roothaan there] (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

Andreas Schelfhout (1787–1870) Dutch painter, etcher and lithographer

(original Dutch, citaat van Schelfhout, uit zijn brief:) Hierbij 3 teekeningen die ik voor UE. Vervaardigd hebt, het zal mij genoegelijk zijn, indien dezelve aan uwe verwachting en aan het [doel], waar voor zie dienen moeten [voor het maken van een schilderij], zullen beantwoorden. De 2 landschapjes zijn gedachten, maar het gene dat het maanlicht voorsteld, is het kasteel te Doorenwaart in Gelderland. Ik heb ook van dat zelve onderwerp een schilderij geschilderd waar van ik veel genoege gehad heb te Amsterdam [aangekocht door A. B. Roothaan aldaar]
Quote of Schelfhout in his letter to , 2 Dec. 1823; as cited in Andreas Schelfhout - landschapschilder in Den Haag, Cyp Quarles van Ufford, Primavera Pers, (ISBN 978-90-5997-066-3), Leiden, p. 49

“I work a lot and I think a lot. I really want to try to paint on glass.. Please will you ask him [mr. architect Taut ] if there are any transparent colors, which one can use to paint on the glass directly... I want to dispose of a new technique in which the artist can paint on the glass directly instead of canvas. When one wants to reach colors spiritually-bright, then a time will come that oil-paint and canvas are no longer suitable... So, if you have time, please ask Mr. Taut if he understands my view and maybe he knows the ways how I can follow my direction.”

Jacoba van Heemskerck (1876–1923) Dutch painter

translation from German, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018
(original version, written by Jacoba in German:)Ich arbeite sehr viel und denke sehr viel. Ich möchte so gern versuchen, auf Glas zu mahlen. .. ..bitte fragen sie ihn dann [Herr Taut] ob es transparante Farbe gibt, womit man gleich auf Glas malen kann. .. ..ich möchte eine neue Technik haben, dass der Künstler so direkt das Glas verwenden kann statt Leinwand. Wenn man die Farben leuchtend geistlich haben will, dann wird es eine Zeit kommen, dass Oelfarben und Leinwand sich dafür nicht mehr eignen.. ..So wenn Sie Zeit haben, fragen Sie dann Herrn Taut ob er meine Idee versteht und vielieich den Weg kennt, den ik gehen müsse.
in a letter to Herwarth Walden, 11 Nov. 1914; as cited by Arend H. Huussen Jr. in Jacoba van Heemskerck, kunstenares van het Expressionisme, Haags Gemeentemuseum The Hague, 1982, p. 19
It was not until April 1918 that Jacoba wrote Walden she had decided to submit a series of designs for stained glass windows for the upcoming 'Sturm' exhibition - in April 1919 she sent him ten stained-glass windows, 'Nrs. 12-26'
1910's

“I can't paint the way they want me to paint and they know that too.
Of course you will say that I ought to be practical and ought to try and paint the way they want me to paint. Well, I will tell you a secret. I have tried and I have tried very hard, but I can't do it. I just can't do it! And that is why I am just a little crazy.”

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) Dutch 17th century painter and etcher

As quoted in R.v.R. : Being an Account of the Last Years and the Death of One Rembrandt Harmenszoon Van Rijn (1930) by Hendrik Willem van Loon
undated quotes

“I have started work on a modern subject, a scene on the barricades… I may not have fought for my country but at least I shall have painted for her.. [quote is referring to his famous painting 'Liberty Leading the People', 1830]”

Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) French painter

Quote in an unpublished letter to Delacroix' brother, 18 October 1830, but mentioned by M. Sérullaz; as quoted in Eugene Delacroix – selected letters 1813 – 1863, ed. and translation Jean Stewart, art Works MFA publications, Museum of Fine Art Boston, 2001, p. 13
1815 - 1830

“I have studied the subject and painted it directly to nature [his painting 'Scheveningen strandgezicht / Scheveningen, beach view'] and I have tried to reproduce that motif simply and unaffectedly, with no desire to make a painting with a lot of 'éclat' [glow].”

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Hendrik Willem Mesdag 10

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