The beach in art and in real life

The trouble with retirement is that one is always “on holiday”, but because of that one forgets sometimes to relax. There is always plenty to do in the house or the garden, there are social obligations, etc. But now everybody seems to be on holiday, everything is on hold, and the weather has never been as glorious. For weeks on end we have had dry, sunny, warm weather. The downside is that trees are dying and dropping their leaves, normally lovely lush green meadows look like yellow straw, for we haven’t had a drop of rain for a month. The upside is that many people have gone off to spend their holidays in faraway countries, so that here even shopping and finding a parking space is very easy and relaxing. Parking spaces galore, and space in the supermarkets.

I have had some rather busy weeks, on the plus side organizing my own singing holiday which is still to come. But having work done in the house involved more upheaval than I had anticipated. In the end I decided to leave all the mess, close the door behind me and at least take one day a week off to do something enjoyable.

A enlarged picture on a museum wall, of fishing boats beached in front of the Kurhaus

So yesterday I entered the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague just as it opened its doors. Lots of free parking, no large groups of tourists yet and space to look round at leisure. The museum has several expositions going, but I was particularly interested in the one with paintings of the so called “Haagsche School”, a group of painters around 1900 who were very interested in the sea, the dunes, and the old fishing villages. They concentrated on Scheveningen, still an authentic fishing village, and although in name part of The Hague, a different place altogether. It was the village of the fishermen, who lived in small cottages, or hovels, working hard to earn a living. The women would mend the fishing nets together, sitting in the dunes, and trade the fish caught by the men. All women wore the local costume. It was the norm. I come from authentic “Scheveningen” stock, and I have never known both my grandmothers dressed in anything but that local costume. They did not have anything else, it was their everyday wear. They both lived in the actual fishing village. When I was young, almost all women wore that costume. My mother never did, but some of my aunts did, although they changed into “civilian” clothes later. We never lived in the old part of the village, but in a greener, residential neighbourhood.

A collage of part of some of the paintings on show at the exhibition

At the time of those painters Scheveningen had no harbour or port, and the dunes were uninterrupted. The vessels had to be pulled on the beach with horses. Thus the boats had a very special round shape, as it would be impossible for a ship with a sharply pointed keel to rest on the sand. The ships were a constant source of inspiration for the artists. So were the sea and the always changing, ever fascinating skies. Sometimes the hard life of the fishing families was pictured as romantic and pure, but more often than not the hardships and the poverty were also depicted. I love those paintings. Partly because I recognize so much of the village as it once was, the lure of the sea and the skies, the ever-changing clouds and the special silvery light.  Of course I knew Scheveningen when it already had a double harbour, a safe place for the fishing boats. They began digging the harbour in 1914. In my youth the quays would be full of wooden barrels for the fish. I’ll never forget the smell of tar, tar for the ropes and the boats.  Is that why I love Lapsang Souchong tea, which has the same tarry aroma? Who can tell.

One of the paintings used on the wall between two rooms

Nowadays, Scheveningen is promoted as The Hague on Sea. Expensive apartment buildings are blocking the view of the harbour which now mostly houses expensive yachts and sailing ships. The local costumes have disappeared during my lifetime and are now only worn on special historic festivals or by choirs. The local population is pushed back to special cheaper housing, the harbour the playground of well to do tourists and others. But the artists of the Haagsche School, Maris, Mesdag, Israels among others, they still can charm me with their beautiful paintings.

So I enjoyed my morning hours in the museum and left when the usual groups of women with a very loud speaking female art historian as a guide started blocking the view.  

In the afternoon I kept my eyes closed to the mess in my house, read a book in the shaded garden, fell asleep and relaxed.

 

 

 

 Early in the evening I went to the beach, the real one, not painted. The wind came from the North-West, so it was quite cool which was lovely after this very hot day. No jellyfish at all this time. They are only there when the wind comes from the East. Tide was far out, so it was a pleasure to walk on the hard and wet sand, my feet in the water. The water was remarkably warm, especially for the North Sea which I usually find far too cold for a pleasant swim. I only walked for 1,5 hours whereas I usually walk some two hours. But the tide started coming in quickly and I was even cut off at a certain point and had to retrace part of my steps and make a detour not to get soaking wet. I wasn’t wearing a bikini! The sea can be treacherous. Anyway, when I got back to where I had started, it was high tide and not even a narrow strip of hard sand was left. I was just in time. Otherwise I would have had to walk through loose sand, which is very tiring. The sky was beautiful and promising, but I did not wait till the sun had completely set. Instead I headed home to water my pot plants and enjoy the still warm evening with a glass of something in my own garden.