P.J.C. (PAUL) GABRIËL


Artists

Biography

P.J.C. (PAUL) GABRIËL
1828 Amsterdam - 1903 Scheveningen

Paul Gabriel is pre-eminently characterized as the portraitist of the Dutch polder. He learned to paint en-plein-air in Oosterbeek, where he spent some time with J.W. Bilders, among others. In 1860 he moved to Brussels where he became friends with Willem Roelofs, the leading landscape painter at the time. From Brussels he regularly returned to paint the Dutch ponds and polders. The time of day (preferably early in the morning) and the corresponding light are important elements in Gabriel's work. In doing so, he uses more than just the nuances of gray so beloved of his contemporaries and was thus called the colorist of the Hague School. Mesdag calls it "Gabriel's morning poetry." Until the 1980s, Gabriel painted mainly in the area around Kortenhoef, Abcoude and Vreeland. After moving to Scheveningen in 1884, he works in the area around The Hague. Gabriel belongs to one of the leading painters of the Hague School. Almost all important museums own work by him.