Arie Zwartartist • painterRijswijk (Z.H.) 1903-1981 Laren (N.H.)

Arie Zwart, versatile and productive painter, took lessons for two years at the Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague. No wonder that the style of his early work is reminiscent of that of the Hague School. After his time at the academy, he works from a studio in his parental home in Rijswijk. As a painter, he can barely make ends meet and earns some extra money with assignments as an advertising cartoonist. Before he gets married, Zwart travels a lot through the Netherlands on his own. Later he travels around in a converted moving van with his wife and three children. In 1936 he had a barge rebuilt especially for his family. The 'Trekschuit' has Voorburg as its home port, but the boat usually sails on the Dutch rivers, in search of a different environment and source of inspiration for Zwart. The popular landscapes that are reminiscent of the traditions of the Hague School in terms of execution and subject, especially the paintings of the Nieuwkoopse Plassen, dates from the 1930s and 1940s. During the war years the barge was moored in Meppel. There, Zwart's colour palette gradually becomes lighter and his brushwork becomes somewhat looser after he comes into contact with Meppel painters such as Stien Eelsingh and Roel Frankot and André Idserda.

After the war, traveling with the 'Trekschuit' starts again. Even after the 'Trekschuit' was given a permanent mooring in Voorburg from 1949, the Zwart couple continued to seek adventure, now on longer trips to Southern Europe, including France, Spain, Portugal, Ibiza and Tunisia. During these journeys, Zwart is struck by the southern light and bright colors in these countries. He processes these impressions in paintings that he makes on the spot, but can also be seen in the still lifes and interiors that he paints on his return to the houseboat.

In 1962, Woerden became the boat's permanent base. Twelve years later, in 1974, the wandering artist and his wife found permanent residence in the Rosa Spierhuis in Laren. Zwart continued to paint there for years until he died there in 1981.