The Avenue at Middelharnis

Meindert Hobbema's Avenue at Middelharnis from 1689, in the National Gallery London, is one of the most famous landscape paintings in European art and the crowning achievement of an artist who otherwise produced relatively conventional woodland scenes. The dramatically converging lines of the tree-lined road create a perspective exercise of extraordinary power, leading the eye irresistibly into the flat Dutch landscape. After painting this masterpiece, Hobbema largely abandoned painting for his position as a wine gauger for the Amsterdam octroi.

The composition's power derives from the rigorous one-point perspective of the avenue, with the tall, slender trees creating a dramatic funnel of space. The meticulous rendering of individual tree branches and the flat polder landscape demonstrate careful observation within a boldly geometric compositional framework.