The Heath near Wolfheze

Bilders was the leading figure in the artists’ colony of Oosterbeek, in the province of Gelderland. While he initially painted landscapes in the Romantic style, his execution became increasingly looser, his brushstrokes broader and his palette more monotone like that of the Hague School. The traditional composition of this painting features a towering stand of trees at the right and a distant view at the left. In spite of this division into two parts, the moderate transitions of colour and the overall grey tonality ensure a harmonious whole.