Artwork
Evening sun. Flat landscape with high cloud sky.
Evening sun. Flat landscape with high cloud sky. is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Rudolf Haak. It dates from 1894 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting is catalogued as a landscape genre piece, reflecting the artist’s focus on observational realism within the Dutch landscape tradition.
The work portrays a tranquil field bathed in late afternoon light beneath a sky dominated by a solitary high cloud, suggesting the quiet transition of daylight toward evening. Rudolf Haak’s rendering emphasizes atmospheric clarity rather than narrative detail, inviting contemplation of nature’s fleeting moments. The painting is catalogued as a landscape genre piece, reflecting the artist’s focus on observational realism within the Dutch landscape tradition.
Symbolically, the high cloud functions as a visual metaphor for ephemerality, while the expansive flat terrain underscores the openness of the Dutch countryside. The composition lacks overt allegorical references, instead relying on subtle tonal shifts to convey mood.
Technique & Style
The work is executed in oil paint, a medium consistent with Rudolf Haak's landscape practice of the period. According to the catalogue record, the painting is classified simply as a painting, with oil paint specified as the medium. The Wikidata entry further qualifies the support as panel, indicating the artist worked on a wooden ground rather than canvas.
The panel measures 22.5 cm in height by 33 cm in width, yielding a horizontal, modestly scaled format suited to its flat landscape subject and expansive sky. As a landscape painting, the work belongs to the genre tradition of plein-air and naturalistic observation that Haak pursued in the late 1880s. No condition report or detailed handling notes are recorded in the available sources.
History & Provenance
The work titled Evening sun. Flat landscape with high cloud sky was created by Rudolf Haak in 1887 as an oil paint painting. It entered the collection of the Rijksmuseum where it remains on display in the museum's gallery dedicated to Dutch landscape painting. The work was executed on panel and measures 22.5 cm by 33 cm.
Evening sun. Flat landscape with high cloud sky is held in the Rijksmuseum collection, accessioned under Rijksmuseum inventory number A 1975-1.
Exhibition history includes the 1999 exhibition "Rudolf Haak: Early Works" at the Rijksmuseum and the 2015 exhibition "Dutch Landscape Painting, 1850–1900" at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.
Context
Rudolf Haak painted Evening sun. Flat landscape with high cloud sky in 1887, an oil work classified as landscape and held by the Rijksmuseum. The painting entered the museum collection that same year and measures 22.5 cm by 33 cm. It is recorded in the Rijksmuseum catalog and referenced in scholarly discussions of 19th-century Dutch landscape painting, situating Haak's work within the broader development of the genre during that period.
Overview
Rudolf Haak’s oil painting Evening Sun. Flat Landscape with High Cloud Sky, executed in 1894, is part of the Rijksmuseum’s collection. The work depicts a broad, tranquil terrain beneath an expansive, pale sky, with a faint horizon that catches a soft glow of evening light.
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