Painting Description

The placement of the irregular border of Belgium and the Netherlands results from wars and politics. This area, billiard-table flat and veined with canals, is dotted with small neat farmsteads surrounded by grazing Holstein and Belgian Blue cattle. In this north coastal area of Belgium, Dutch is the language spoken. Indeed it is only south of Brussels that the signs verify the French influence. There is something reassuring for me when the landscape conforms to my preconceived ideas. The countryside features windmills, small farms with tile-roofed buildings guarding a courtyard, banked canals taking water from the lowered dry land, cattle and horses in abundance looking lazily from rich green fields, and frequent church steeples pointing to the ever changing sky, while on the ground around them busy villagers enjoy lives seasoned with beer and bicycles.

This image is available for Licensing. Contact Cynthia [email protected] for inquiries.