CULTURE
The cultural life in The Netherlands
is varied and lively. Dutch painting and crafts are world-renowned,
and Dutch painters are among the greatest the world has ever known.
The Dutch themselves take great pride in their cultural heritage,
and the government is heavily involved in subsidizing the arts,
while not involving itself directly in artistic control of cultural
enterprises. Indeed, the long-enduring tradition of Dutch freedom
of expression has undoubtedly played a significant role in the
flowering of Dutch culture through the ages.
The history of Dutch painting
offers such a deep, rich lode of names that only a few can be
touched on here. Certainly among the most revered are those of
Rembrandt and Vincent van Gogh. Rembrandt, painting in the 17th
century, became a master of light and shadow, a technique reflected
in his landscapes as well as such portraits as his monumental
“The Night Watch.” Van Gogh, born in the 19th century,
was a powerful influence in the development of modern art.
country’s
cultural life as a whole achieved an international reputation
in the 17th century, which is often called its Golden Age. Among
the influential Dutch figures of that time were jurist Hugo Grotius,
scientists Christiaan Huygens and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, cartographers
Willem Janszoon Blaeu and Jodocus Hondius, writers Pieter Corneliszoon
Hooft and Joost van den Vondel, philosopher Baruch Spinoza, and
numerous theologians. In addition, foreigners lived in Holland
to enjoy its tolerant atmosphere, the most famous being French
philosopher and mathematician René Descartes and English
philosopher John Locke. Well-known figures of the Golden Age include
the great 17th-century Dutch artists, such as Rembrandt, Jan Vermeer,
Frans Hals, and Jan Steen. The Dutch artistic tradition continued
to be vigorous in more recent centuries—producing noted
and influential painters such as Vincent van Gogh, Piet Mondrian,
and Karel Appel—and lives on today, particularly in Amsterdam,
where artists from many countries work.
