Signed lower right

Oil on canvas

Imagesize: 60 x 50 cm

Framed: 75 x 65 cm

Biography Ben Viegers

As a member of the Hague Art Circle, Viegers knows about all the innovations in painting, but he remains faithful to the impressionist style all his life. Jan Toorop, Aris and Jan Knikker and especially his great inspiration and master Charles Dankmeijer influenced him. In Nunspeet he works together with Jan van Vuuren and Arthur Briet. He paints many works on commission. His free work in particular testifies to his artistry.

Ben Viegers (The Hague 1886-Nunspeet 1947) lived in Nunspeet from 1938 until his death. He lives there on De Laan with his wife as a ‘pleinairist’ and bon vivant. Without frills, pretensions and unsophisticated. He eagerly translates the wealth of subjects he finds there into paintings with a powerful touch in a colorful and cheerful palette. His works are hardly detailed, rather sketchy and have relatively large brushstrokes. Faces are barely developed. Of course there is perspective and he painted with great color contrasts to show the light.

By coming to Nunspeet, Ben Viegers stands in a tradition of previous artists who also searched for the purity of country life. Rural scenes, markets, bulb fields, a street, simple life in the countryside are subjects that he often captures. The works are set up quickly and powerfully outside. In the spirit of the Hague School and Mauve, he also painted in Gooische gray, especially in the beginning. However, his use of color soon becomes more colourful, more intense and given a bright light with an impressionistic touch. Viegers uses cobalt blue, sea green and orange in many works, giving his paintings a Mediterranean appearance.

Owning a Harley-Davidson with sidecar and later a car made him mobile at an early age. He makes trips to Kleve (D), Bruges, Mechelen and numerous cities, where he captures characteristic locations. When depicting striking buildings and beautiful facades, he often combines it with water to explore the effects of movement and reflection.

Brother and friend Matthijs sells his works in Nijmegen at the gallery and later he has a kind of employment relationship with art dealer Koch and there is a steady stream of income. He only makes one major trip to the west coast of France in his life. The influence of Impressionism must have been developed more autodidactically, which further underlines its value for art in the Netherlands.