Reinier Sybrand Bakelsartist • painterDen Hoorn (Texel) 1873-1956 Den Haag

Reinier Bakels was a promising lawyer when he radically changed course in 1904 and decided to devote himself entirely to painting. He settled in The Hague and from there visited the fishing port of Scheveningen, the harbor towns along the major rivers and the fishing villages around the Zuiderzee. Not only Enkhuizen and Harderwijk attracted him, but also smaller towns such as Volendam and Elburg. The harbors with waiting fishing boats, the play of light on the water, the high silhouettes of windmills and towers, Bakels captured them in their own style in which a dramatic light-dark effect stands out. He was a great admirer of the impressionist W.B. Tholen, about whom he wrote a monograph.