The Stedelijk Alkmaar studies the Post-Impressionist influence on the School of Bergen

From 29 April to 3 September 2023, the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar presents “Van Gogh, Cézanne, Le Fauconnier & the Bergen School“.

Image: Gerrit Willem van Blaaderen, “On the Seine near Samois”, 1908, oil on canvas, 100 x 120 cm | private collection

The Bergen School was an artistic movement that took place in the Bergen area in the years immediately after the First World War. It was led by the French painter Henri Le Fauconnier (1881-1946) and the Dutch painter Piet van Wijngaerdt (1873-1964), who were followed by artists such as Else Berg, Leo Gestel, Harrie Kuyten, Kees Maks, Mommie Schwarz, Jan Sluyters, Wim Schumacher, and Piet Wiegman, among others.

On the exhibition website, the Museum explains that the exhibition “includes a selection of original works by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne and Henri Le Fauconnier that were actually seen and studied by the ‘young guard’ of the Bergen School in the first decade of the 20th century. Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar combines the works of the three great masters with the oeuvres of Bergen School artists of the first hour: Leo Gestel, Gerrit Willem van Blaaderen, Else Berg, Mommie Schwarz, Dirk Filarski and the Wiegman brothers. The exhibition thus shows a new and nuanced picture of the birth of expressionism in the Netherlands. Van Gogh, Cézanne, Le Fauconnier & the Bergen School is thus a valuable addition to Dutch art history.“

Among the works on display are Vincent van Gogh’s “Horse chestnut tree in bloom” (1887), on loan from the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; and Paul Cézanne’s “Bouteilles et pêches” (1890), on loan from the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

About the Stedelijk Museum in Alkmaar

Founded in 1873, the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar moved to its current location in 2000. It mainly exhibits works by artists from the Alkmaar area (including those belonging to the Bergen School), although artists such as Leo Gestel and Piet Mondrian are also represented.