Harbour of Rotterdam

Willem (Wim) Bos (1906-1974) lived and worked in Rotterdam, Brussels, Antwerp and Paris. In 1924, he returned to Rotterdam where he was inspired by the loading and unloading activities in the great harbours and the shipping traffic; the work of well-known Rotterdam painters such as Van Mastenbroek, Evert Moll and Marinus Drulman also stimulated him to frequently choose the harbour activities as subject for his paintings.

Wim Bos developed his own impressionistic style, close to that of Marinus de Jongere. He painted, drew and watercoloured harbour views as well as lake views. His harbour views breathe the typical atmosphere of the pre-war harbour, with coal fires, screaming steam whistles, rattling anchor chains, and squeaking and creaking cranes and loading booms.

The port is still very much alive in the heart of Rotterdam. Watching ships at the quay and hearing the ship horns sound on New Year’s Eve is a Rotterdam tradition. Wim Bos conveyed this emotion in his oil paintings. This made it all the more striking that Wim Bos rarely painted in the harbour, even though it was so close. He usually worked on the basis of postcards and reproductions, including photographs of his own paintings.

After his death, these models were found around Wim Bos’s easel, preserved by showers of oil paint and turpentine, which the painter had produced over the years as he worked. If you looked at it for a long time, you could smell the Rotterdam harbour.