Oil on canvas
80 x 65 cm.
Signed and dated: lower right ‘Altink 21’
Literature: C. Hofsteenge, De Ploeg 1918-1941 De Hoogtijdagen, Groningen 1993, p. 78 (ill.)
With Johan Dijkstra, Jan Wiegers and George Martens Jan Altink founded the Groningen artist association ‘De Ploeg’ in 1918 to organize exhibitions of modern art and show artists and public the latest developments in art, architecture and literature. Around Jan Wiegers formed a group of Ploeg-painters who found their inspiration in expressionism. Wiegers brought the modern style back to the Netherlands in 1921 after his stay in Switzerland with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. De Ploeg artists began to experiment with colour, wax paint and expressive form. The blue cart at Blauwbörgje shows Altinks development to a new way of painting. Initially, Altink used a grey and green palette for his post-impressionist paintings. The careful application of the colour purple at the path, the pink reflected on the city at the horizon and the blue of the centrally placed cart show the new use of brighter colours in which Altink began to work in the early twenties. Blauwbörgje was a place just outside Groningen, where the artists of De Ploeg liked to paint. In 1923, the first anniversary party of De Ploeg was held here.
