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Panoramic View of Ghent, ca. 1881

  • oil paint, canvas
  • 87 x 143.5 cm
  • Inv. 1881-H

Public Domain

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In the nineteenth century, Ghent was the most industrialised city in Flanders, a process which was accelerated by the construction of the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal and other developments. Gustave Den Duyts’ painting Panoramic View of the City of Ghent shows the city from the point where the canal starts, before the outport was dug between 1882 and 1886. On the left we see a couple of goods carts on the quayside where a boat is moored. On the right bank factory chimneys stand up alongside the city’s historical towers. The painter plays off the illuminated sky against the drab suburb. The paint is applied in short and agitated strokes, which gives the whole work an impressionist look.