Summer Morning, 1914 - 1915

Oblique morning light determines the atmosphere and the composition of Anna de Weert's impression of a morning in August. The sheaves of wheat are lit from behind. One of them has fallen to the side and so provides a view of the sunlit field behind. The sensation of light does not lead the artist to a dissolution of form, as is the case with some French impressionists. Although the light remains the 'divine' inspiration for her, the realistic design and solid construction are striking. The sheaves of wheat and the row of trees behind the field together form lines of flight that cross each other on the left outside the canvas and divide the image into triangular areas. What is still visible of the farmstead on the left makes the composition closed, while the vista between the trees breaks through that closedness somewhat. The contrast between the warm, brownish-yellow colours in the foreground and the fresh, bright green in the background also gives the composition a clear structure that corresponds to the division of the surface and also creates a suggestion of depth. According to the artist's own inscription at the back of the canvas, De Weert begins this work just before the outbreak of the First World War. The war forced her to interrupt her work and she only completed the painting in 1915 during the occupation.