Winter

Winter from 1650 by Jan van Goyen depicts a frozen Dutch landscape, connecting him to the tradition of winter scenes that was one of the most distinctive genres in Dutch painting. Van Goyen's winter landscapes reduce the typical elements of ice skaters and frozen waterways to atmospheric tonal studies. Characteristic of the artist's mature approach, the work displays monochromatic tonalism in greys, greens, and browns, vast cloud-filled skies dominating low horizons, rapid confident brushwork that captures atmosphere over topographic precision.

The winter palette of cool greys and whites is unified by van Goyen's tonal approach, with the frozen landscape rendered in his characteristic economical brushwork.