Matthijs Maris

“The Brothers Maris (James – Matthew – William), ed. Charles Holme; text: D.C. Thomson; publishers, Offices of 'The Studio', London - Paris, 1907”

“biography information and other sources, in the Dutch Foundation RKD”

“many free images of paintings and drawings of Matthijs Maris, in the RijksStudio of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam”

“As far as 'Melancholy' concerned, or as he liked to call it 'Evaporated Dreams', on that painting he worked most times during the last years of his life, when his eyes got less and less reliable. When he died the painting stood on his easel. Often he spoke about it with bitterness, as if it should express the nature of his own life. With his almost lost drawing [using no lines] and his subdued color, it sometimes seemed to me the saddest possible emblem of all the unhappiness of his fate.”

“The exception is Matthew [= Matthijs, in Dutch] Maris.. .It is perfectly impossible to be certain of anything produced by this remarkable artist. One day a figure, next day a head, another time a windmill landscape, and again a town or village.”

“He is the painter of the border land between the seen and the unseen world.”

“That splendid, head, in which everything is said that can be said; color, line, tone, expression; the slightly advanced head, with the soft, almost human eyes, I never enter my studio in the morning without my eye falling upon this creature and wishing it 'Good Morning'.”

“Thijs knew everything by himself, he was a genius. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“[I saw] landscapes, more color-visions than reality; ruins of castles ghostly shining through the mist, cobblestones, gently blown on the canvas..”

“Matthijs started with the left eye, which - since he painted the portrait à trois quarts - is about the center of the bud. The [left] eye finished, he started to paint around it the details of forehead, nose, the right eye, the mouth, etc.. ..until he finally enclosed all of these with the contour of the head and the light-brown background. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“My brother Jaap was born as a painter, which means he really enjoyed it. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

“Besides (and I now quote the artist's own words) I never put a bullet in my gun, but only pretended, to do so!”

“Thijs, Thijs, you came to a people [of Paris], when they were doing well, now you must help them, when they are in distress. (translation from original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”