Frits Verdonk artwork • painting • for sale Mandarins in a basket

Frits Verdonk lived and worked in The Hague, where he painted portraits, still lifes, and old Hague neighborhoods in a bright palette and loose, impressionistic style. He grew up in the orphanage in Gorkum, where his talent for drawing was discovered by the orphanage's administrator, Wittermans. He arranged for Frits to be enrolled at the Rotterdam Art Academy. After Wittermans' death, his wife remained the now-successful painter's business advisor. Verdonk could often be found in the summer along the sunny beaches of Katwijk and Scheveningen. There, he captured a popular attraction of the time: the donkey rides on the beach that children could take for a few cents, led by the donkey owner. For these paintings, Verdonk developed a unique palette of candy colors that further emphasized the sunny atmosphere of the beach scenes.