View of Haarlem

For Weissenbruch and other artists of the Hague School, with their knowledge of Dutch 17th-century art and the Barbizon School, plain air painting became fundamental. Taking Daubigny’s floating studio as their model, Weissenbruch and Roelofs regularly went out in boats. Weissenbruch’s spacious Dutch scenes, such as View of Haarlem, contrast in their use of bolder and broader brushwork. In their own specific lyrical way, drawing foremost on the colourist juxtaposition of silvery blues and greens with warmer shades, Weissenbruch paintings nicely captured the moist atmosphere that lies upon Dutch landscapes.