Canal in Holland, 1876

Holland is one of the central themes in the oeuvre of the landscape and still life painter Tina Blau-Lang (1845–1916). Together with her friend and fellow painter Emil Jakob Schindler (1842–1892), a representative of Atmospheric Impressionism with whom she temporarily shared her studio in Vienna, she had made her first trip to the home of the great landscape painters of the 17th century in 1875 and had developed a fascination with the land of canals and its specific lighting and weather conditions. In her 1876 work Canal in Holland, Blau-Lang aims at emphasizing spatial depth by guiding the running water with the alley of trees diagonally towards the vanishing point in the left half of the picture. The composition seems calm, but the dramatic weather and lighting conditions and the open and dynamic brushstrokes instill movement in the picture.

AGW, 2001