Van Gogh in

Schreierstoren

On Whit Monday 1877, Vincent wrote to his brother Theo that he had taken a walk along the Buitenkant to the Noorderkerk. He remarked that the area around the Schreierstoren reminded him of a Jacob Maris painting. He may have been thinking of De Buitenkant with de Schreierstoren, Amsterdam (1876), now part of the Rijksmuseum’s collection. Vincent enjoyed walking in this part of the city alone and with friends:

“We walked along Buitenkant and there by the sand works at the Oosterspoor, I can’t tell you how beautiful it was there in the twilight. Rembrandt, Michel and others have painted it, the ground dark, the sky still lit by the glow of the sun, already gone down, the row of houses and towers standing out above, the lights in the windows everywhere, everything reflected in the water. And the people and carriages like small black figures everywhere. Like one sometimes sees in a Rembrandt.” Read the complete letter