Jan de Boer - polder landscape with barns in the snow - Sold

Boer, JA de Boer, Jan de Boer born 1902 oil on canvas signed by his wife on the back Jan Adriaan (Jan) de Boer was born on 17 October 1902 in Den Helder. He lived and worked in Weesp, Alkmaar, Zaandam, Amsterdam and Den Ilp (NH). Jan de Boer has been seen for many years as the nestor of the Zaanse painters. He showed his talents early on. During his primary school years, he attended the evening drawing school in Weesp, where he spent his youth, where he was taught by the painter JJ Koeman. After a short stay in Alkmaar, the de Boer family moved to Zaandam in 1920, where Jan took painting lessons from Willem Jansen and came into contact with other Zaanse painters such as Jaap Kaal, Kees Koning, Arie van Mever, who, like Willem Jansen, had a great influence on the style of his painting. Jan was not yet married at that time, a marriage was not even in the offing; he felt like a free man, whose only ideal was to devote his entire life to painting. Everything changed when Jans came into his life and plans were made to marry. There was no need to count on any support from the government, a Visual Artists Scheme did not yet exist and Willem Jansen, who personally experienced the life full of worries and poverty that the visual artist had to endure, advised Jan to choose a profession, because at that time it was not possible to earn a reasonable living for a family by selling his work. He became a house painter. However, this was no reason for him to hang up his linen and brushes. He continued to devote all his free time, in the evenings, sometimes at night and on Sundays, to painting, remaining true to the tonal style that was so characteristic of the Zaan painters of that time. There has been little innovation in his work over the years. In accordance with his nature and character, he has remained true to his once acquired genre. Many people love his gloomy-looking work, which exudes an atmosphere that one found in his old Zaan house. Those who prefer something more colourful, ignore the high quality of his oeuvre, which betrays his own vision in both his Zaan landscapes and his few still lifes and Parisian cityscapes, which he fully supported and in which he always remained himself. This was a great achievement of this modest artist. Work by Jan de Boer was shown at exhibitions in Hoorn, Zaandam, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The Bommel-van Dam museum in Venlo has included work by Jan de Boer in its collection.