Construction of the quay at Hoek van Holland

This monumental drawing of a view of the Hoek van Holland (literally "corner of Holland")--the southwest coast of the Netherlands, near Rotterdam--is a spectacular example of the work of Dirk Nijland, an important member of a generation of Dutch artists who, inspired by The Hague School and Van Gogh, worked in a representational but highly expressive mode throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Depicting a quay under construction with smoke from a ship and building filling the sky, the sheet epitomizes Nijland's chief interests as an artist: landscapes that reflect both centuries-old pictorial traditions in the Netherlands and his own post-industrial era. Nijland captured teh gritty atmosphere of the scene by spraying tiny dots of ink across the paper, possibly by running a finger along a wet brush.