Willem Maris

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Dutch artist, impressionistic landscape painter of the Hague School and third of three brothers who were all noted painters. Willem (Wentzel) Maris learned the art of drawing and painting from his elder brothers Jacob and Matthijs. After that he visited the evening school of the Hague Academy () and learned a lot from the painter Pieter Stortenbeker (b. 21 April 1828, Den Haag). As he was fascinated by the light he went out of his studio to paint in the free nature. Here he became an autodidact, learning from the changing appearance of nature. In 1855 he met Anton Mauve. He was influenced by the energetic Mauve movement, but his subjects were confined to seemingly stupid meadows and vegetating cattle. But a famous quote of Maris was: "Ik schilder geen koeien maar licht" (I do not paint cows but light). Willem Maris became a leader of Dutch impressionism, urging his pupils - among them Breitner - to paint outdoors and use vivid colors. He was a teacher on the "Academie van Beeldende Kunsten" in The Hague, of which his son Simon Willem Maris was a student. Willem Maris died 10 October 1910 in Den Haag . Link to Wikipedia biography