Meijer de Haan
Meijer de Haan (April 14, 1852, Amsterdam - October 24, 1895, Amsterdam) was a Dutch portrait painter.
Biography
He was born into a successful Jewish family of biscuit manufacturers, close to the study of religion, music and art. He had already had some success in the Netherlands as a painter of Jewish genre works, when in the winter of 1888, accompanied by his pupil Joseph Jacob Isaacson, he went to Paris to continue his studies. There he met Pissarro, Theo van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin, back from Arles, whom De Haan accompanied to Brittany - first to Pont-Aven, and later to Le Pouldu, on the coast of Bretagne.
Van Gogh introduced De Haan to his brother Vincent van Gogh, and Meijer de Haan exchanged several letters with Vincent. In Bretagne, De Haan had a liaison with Marie Henry, the owner of the seaside hotel-café Buvette du plage, where Meijer de Haan and Gauguin lodged in 1890-1891. They covered the walls of the dining area with impressionist murals, that were only papered over in the 1920's. Since discovery they have since been restored and sold.
Marie Henry gave birth to a daughter Ida, but De Haan left Le Pouldu and returned to Amsterdam. There are several stories why he left, and though some say that Gaughin was jealous, it was probably simply due to his parents stopping his stipend, so he could no longer afford staying there. Though he never saw Marie Henry again, he later left all of his paintings to her. In Amsterdam De Haan painted portraits and took on several pupils, including Joseph Jacob Isaacson, Louis Hartz and Baruch Lopes de Leao Laguna.
Today the bar Buvette du plage has been restored to its former appearance, with modern reproductions installed of the original wall paintings.
Paintings
-
Before his trip south:The difficult question, 1880. -
His impressionist style of Le Pouldu: A woman breastfeeding, 1890.
References
- Welsh-Ovcharov, Bogomila: Vincent van Gogh and the Birth of Cloisonism (!), Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 24 January - 22 March 1981 and Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, 9 April - 14 June 1989 ISBN 0-919876-66-8
- VanGogh museum with one of the original wall paintings of a spinning Breton girl
- Article (Dutch) on Meijer de Haan in the Amsterdam Joodshistorischmuseum
 | This article about a Dutch painter is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |