The painting depicts a scene in North Africa, with some figures walking near a city gate. They are preparing for the day ahead. The sun is just rising. This can be seen in the shadows that are still relatively short. The sky is blue and clear.

The environment is peaceful and quiet, with only the sounds of birds and the gentle breeze blowing through the air. The painting thus gives a sense of the promise of a new day and the beginning of a new adventure.

Signed Leo Eland lower right

Oil on canvas

Image size 30 x 40 cm

Framed 50 x 60 cm

Biography Leo Eland 

Leonardus Joseph Eland (Salatiga ((Java) 1884-1952 The Hague) is one of the most important representatives of the Indies school. In the 1920s he came to the Netherlands for good, where he lived and worked in The Hague. His oeuvre consists mainly of colourful, impressionistic landscapes with figures. Leo Eland can be characterized as a typical 'Beautiful East Indies' painter, a light-footed impressionism that is pleasant to look at. Smoothly painted colorful paintings of the Indian landscape with its volcanoes, paddy fields, forests and coastal scenes. He painted landscapes of both Java and Sumatra. He made trips to North Africa as well were he painted several works like the one we sell. 

Leo was a prolific painter and sold well. He was commissioned by the Ministry of the Colonies to make panorama paintings and dioramas for the International Colonial Exhibition held in Paris in 1931. For this he returned to the Dutch East Indies in 1928 to gain inspiration for this honorable assignment. He made a number of large works for the Dutch pavilion that were unfortunately lost in the fire.

His twin brother Arthur was much less well known. At the end of 1940 he had an exhibition in Leiden in art gallery 'Pro Arte' and that was it. Arthur's work is also impressionistic, but more subdued than Leo's and is characterized by a more muted use of color. Leo Eland, however, exhibited many times, especially in the Dutch East Indies, the Netherlands and America together, works by Van Aerschot, Van Aken and other Indian artists.

For Sale painting by Leo Eland