J.B. (JOHAN) JONGKIND

Biography

J.B. (JOHAN) JONGKIND
1819 Lattrop (The Netherlands) - 1891 Côte St.-André (France)

Johan Barthold Jongkind began his education as a painter in the studio of the Romantic painter Andreas Schelfhout along with lessons at the Hague Academy. In 1846, with a royal scholarship, he left for France where the French marine painter Eugène Isabey (1803-1886) became his teacher. Together they traveled across France and eventually to the Normandy coast that would play an important role in Jongkind's later work. A few years later he would meet Eugène Boudin and Claude Monet in Honfleur. Jongkind was successful from the start, although he didn't win prizes at the Paris Salons. Suffered with depression and haunted by financial problems, Jongkind returned to the Netherlands in 1855 and settled in Rotterdam, where he led a more quiet life but continued to paint. Among his French artist friends, he had remained popular and they arranged his return to France. He would not return to the Netherlands after 1869. Meeting Joséphine Fesser, with whom he would share the rest of his life, put his life more peaceful. Until today, Jongkind is considered the father of Impressionism. Together with his friend Boudin, he made this genre great. He was very successful especially with his landscapes by moonlight. When we look back and compare the years of the works of the later impressionists who came after him, we can truly speak of a pioneering artist.