In search of the essence of nature: Van Gogh and Jacob van Ruisdael

Summary Throughout his life, Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) was a great admirer of the seventeenth-century landscape painter Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29–1682). Based on nineteenth-century literature, Van Gogh’s letters, and analysis of a selection of his own landscapes, this article explores the special relationship that the artist had with the work of Jacob van Ruisdael, and the way Van Gogh imagined his nature in both senses of the word. Van Gogh mentioned Ruisdael no fewer than 42 times in his letters. In doing so, he repeatedly made comparisons between the world he experienced and the work of Ruisdael. The lasting impression made by the predecessor can also be seen in Vincent’s landscapes, from his early years in the Netherlands, his work in Paris (1886–1887), and up to his last years in Arles, the Provence, and Auvers-sur-Oise (1888–1890). However, Van Gogh never intended to copy Ruisdael. On the one hand, his work shows that he was fascinated by Ruisdael’s compositions, the naturalistic character of the works, and his use of light. On the other hand, he recognized a certain feeling in Ruisdael’s work, especially of melancholy and longing. This notion was further shaped by publications Van Gogh read closely, the works he carefully studied in museums such as the Louvre and the Rijksmuseum, and the prints after Ruisdael he owned. A nineteenth-century image of a melancholic and lonely artist was thus constructed – a man with an intense love of nature, a masterful painter of stormy skies. From his own pantheistic worldview of nature as an expression of God, Van Gogh linked Ruisdael’s work to religious faith during his Dutch period. In addition, Van Gogh associated these paintings with the Netherlands of the past and with the Brabant of his youth. This was even evident in France, in the last phase of his life. Though in a different country, Van Gogh repeatedly associated the French landscape with the ‘oud Holland’ he knew from Ruisdael’s work. According to his letters, he strove to express this nostalgic idea in his many landscapes, even the very last of them.