Lot Essay
The appearance of a major work by Matthijs Maris (1839-1917) on the market is a rare event.
Besides his relatively small oeuvre, most of his works are in museums and private collections around the world.
Matthijs, or Thijs Maris was tragically, the odd man out in the art of his day.
Linked only to the Hague School by family, the well known painters Jacob and Willem Maris, his art reveals a methaphysical fourth dimension, widely accepted as an early form of symbolism.
During his stay in London from 1877 until his death in 1917, he was financially supported by various patrons, amongst which the art dealers D. Cottier and E.J. van Wisselingh.
From that time on he seemed free to paint the subjects of his own choise instead of the so-called 'potboilers' which he condemned.
Paradoxically Maris had developed an obsessive disgust with artdealers, commerce and money in general and considered his patrons as conspiring enemies.
It was this almost paranoid withdrawal from reality that left it impossible for Maris to finish his compositions. The graceful beauties he used to paint merged into shadows, going over his few canvasses again and again in the thinnest possible layers of paint.
To Maris his 'brides' were symbolic for his search for purity, a search for a lost paradise.
Maris used to say:"My paintings are the incomplete expression of my thoughts; they belong to me, they are part of my soul and I alone understand them and appreciate how inadequate they are to express what is in me."
According to H.E. van Gelder the present lot can be considered, not only as one of the most beautiful canvasses from the 'bride'-series, but also as the counterpart of the slightly smaller canvas 'Novice taking the veil' now in the collection of the Gemeente Museum, The Hague (inv.no. 7-1937), (cf. literature J. Sillevis a.o., De Haagse School, The Hague 19.., cat.no. 45 (illus.))
See colour illustration
Besides his relatively small oeuvre, most of his works are in museums and private collections around the world.
Matthijs, or Thijs Maris was tragically, the odd man out in the art of his day.
Linked only to the Hague School by family, the well known painters Jacob and Willem Maris, his art reveals a methaphysical fourth dimension, widely accepted as an early form of symbolism.
During his stay in London from 1877 until his death in 1917, he was financially supported by various patrons, amongst which the art dealers D. Cottier and E.J. van Wisselingh.
From that time on he seemed free to paint the subjects of his own choise instead of the so-called 'potboilers' which he condemned.
Paradoxically Maris had developed an obsessive disgust with artdealers, commerce and money in general and considered his patrons as conspiring enemies.
It was this almost paranoid withdrawal from reality that left it impossible for Maris to finish his compositions. The graceful beauties he used to paint merged into shadows, going over his few canvasses again and again in the thinnest possible layers of paint.
To Maris his 'brides' were symbolic for his search for purity, a search for a lost paradise.
Maris used to say:"My paintings are the incomplete expression of my thoughts; they belong to me, they are part of my soul and I alone understand them and appreciate how inadequate they are to express what is in me."
According to H.E. van Gelder the present lot can be considered, not only as one of the most beautiful canvasses from the 'bride'-series, but also as the counterpart of the slightly smaller canvas 'Novice taking the veil' now in the collection of the Gemeente Museum, The Hague (inv.no. 7-1937), (cf. literature J. Sillevis a.o., De Haagse School, The Hague 19.., cat.no. 45 (illus.))
See colour illustration