Dirk Hidde Nijland

(Dordrecht 1881-1955 Santpoort-North (Velsen))

Dirk Hidde Nijland (1881-1955) wanted to depict reality very precisely. He focused on capturing everyday things with the utmost precision, in a realistic, matter-of-fact and precise manner, keeping the colors he used to a minimum. 

Dirk Hidde Nijland, who came into contact with art at a young age because his father was an art and antique collector, developed into a painter, draftsman and graphic artist and designer of book bindings.

He was apprenticed to Antoon Derkinderen and took lessons at the Rijksschool voor Kunstnijverheid in Amsterdam and the Academy of Visual Arts and Technical Sciences in Rotterdam. After his studies, Nijland spent several years in Paris and Brussels and later lived in Rhoon and Wassenaar.

After he moved to Leiden in 1943, he stayed with a niece of H.P. Bremmer in the Bloemlust House. Nijland had many friends in artistic circles: Paul Arntzenius, John Raedecker, Charley Toorop, Cornelis Veth and the Kröller-Müller couple.