Acquisition of "L’Escaut près d’Anvers, soleil couchant" [The Sheldt near Antwerp, setting sun]
by Johan Barthold Jongkind

The work’s story

Jongkind was trained in drawing and watercolor in The Hague. He was quickly recognized by the French artistic community as an promising artist. He was admitted to the Salon in 1848, and was rewarded several times. In 1866, Jongkind stayed in Antwerp, where he multiplied his studies in pencil, sketching the cathedral, the water and the sailors.

This spectacular Setting Sun captured at the entrance to Antwerp, on the Scheldt, reflects all of Jongkind’s talent. Describing the river and its ships, he renders the twilight atmosphere of the maritime expanse, where the sky merges with the water. As a friend of Boudin and Monet, Jongkind was attached to luminous effects, which he reproduced in 1868 in an engraving, The Setting Sun, Port of Antwerp (etching, Giverny, musée des impressionnismes).

Jongkind liked to spend hours sitting in a small boat drawing on the Scheldt. The work Setting sun bears witness to this, with a low horizon which suggests that the painter is indeed on the water, as close as possible to the movements of light on the river. In many ways, this Setting Sun announces Impression, soleil levant by Claude Monet, dated 1872 (Paris, Musée Marmottan Monet).

Jongkind kept this painting throughout his life before it was sold after his death at an auction in Paris in December 1891.

In 2024, to celebrate its 15th anniversary, the musée des impressionnismes Giverny decided to acquire this work related to the exhibition Impressionism and the Sea.

Thanks to a considerable commitment from the patrons, the museum has collected nearly €40,000 in donations.

The museum warmly thanks the 299 patrons who contributed to the purchase of the painting L’Escaut près d’Anvers, soleil couchant by Johan Barthold Jongkind! See the list of all donors.

The Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny would also like to thank McArthurGlen Paris-Giverny, Museoteca and the Friends of the Musée des impressionnismes Giverny.

Charlène Potier
Patronage manager
c.potier@mdig.fr
Tel : +332 32 51 45 02