R. (RAOUL) HYNCKES 1893 Brussel (Belgium) - 1973 Blaricum (The Netherlands) View on Keizersgracht, Amsterdam

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An Amsterdam cityscape from the early period of Raoul Hynckes. Belgian by birth and later celebrated for his magic-realist still lifes, this painter produced some remarkable cityscapes during a brief spell in Amsterdam. Beneath the trees along the canal, the ships lie in a greenish haze, in light filtered through the leaves. The quay wall with its row of trees, running into the picture from below, lends the painting an immense sense of depth. The trees and the masts give the work a distinctive rhythm. The shimmer of light on the water plays an important part, and here too the green tones predominate. The high horizon is striking: Hynckes would later compose his still lifes in the very same way. The singular perspective found throughout his oeuvre is, from the very beginning, a defining feature of his work. His use of colour is no less distinctive. Here, everything in the painting is suffused with green, where, among his contemporaries, we encounter above all grey and brown. The often unconventional framing he chose for his compositions likewise sets him apart from the older painters of the Amsterdam cityscape of this period, such as Breitner and Witsen.

The paths of Hynckes and the much older Breitner crossed at this time. On coming to the Netherlands, Hynckes settled in Amsterdam after a brief stay in The Hague. On Prinseneiland, he found a place to work, in the double studio that the father of the painter Kees Maks had built in 1898 for his son and George Breitner. Breitner had only just left, and Maks had moved into the latter's larger studio. Hynckes was thus able to work in Maks's former studio. Here, he painted countless cityscapes of his immediate surroundings, with a preference for the ships moored at the quays of Prinseneiland. He liked to move in close on vessels, mooring jetties or bollards, producing a perspective all of his own. To support himself, he also made book illustrations and advertising posters, and designed costumes and sets for the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg (Municipal Theatre).

Raoul Hynckes had enjoyed a flourishing career in his native Belgium from a young age. At eighteen, he exhibited for the first time in Brussels. The following year, he was already showing in Paris, and the year after that, once more in Brussels: his talent was recognised early. During this period, he painted mainly landscapes and grew increasingly fascinated by water. Harbour and river views became his preferred subjects. Each year, he travelled to the Netherlands to paint the water and the ships at Dordrecht and Volendam.

When the First World War broke out, Hynckes was called up to fight against the Germans. During the chaotic retreat of the Belgian army, following the failed defence of Liège, he escaped capture and made his way to Maastricht. His harrowing wartime experiences would shape the whole of his later life and brought on a severe mental crisis that left him unable to work for a long time. Our painting dates from the brief period when he was still in good health and had taken up his career again in the Netherlands. At the end of 1915, he sank into a deep and prolonged crisis. For almost ten years, he was incapable of working. Only in 1924 did he resolve to set out in an entirely new direction. He now began to paint sombre, allegorical still lifes, the work for which he became famous. Hynckes destroyed almost all of his earlier, more impressionistic work. Wrongly so, as our painting, which happily survived that destruction, makes clear.