The Low Light and the High Light

Thursday 2022/09/22

Once again a short story. Its first part starts already in 1908. 

At that time the painter Piet Mondrian - yes, the one with the yellow, blue and red squares and the black lines on a white background - lived for a time in Westkapelle near Domburg. During this time, he painted and sketched various views of the surroundings: dune landscapes, windmills, churches, trees. And the big lighthouse of Westkapelle, called t' Hoge Licht (the big light). The painting is world-famous and hangs in the Kunstmuseum in The Hague. But we didn't know that - you can't know every world-famous painting!

And so the second part of this story begins. Last Sunday we took a bike ride from Vrouwenpolder to Domburg (Blog from September 18th "Wind & Waves"). From there, we continued along the coast in strong winds to Westkapelle. The view over the stormy North Sea is simply breathtaking. From the tip of the peninsula, we ride to the end of the beautiful little town of Westkapelle - all the little towns in Holland are beautiful. There stands a 53-meter high tower, which as a foreigner you can't identify as either a church tower or a lighthouse. But it can be climbed, which is always worth the extra effort for us. The world from above has a different perspective!

Halfway up, the tower has six floors, we enter a bright room with oil paintings hanging around by a local artist. There is another painting on a wooden table that catches our eye. It shows a picture of a lighthouse on an easel in front of a cloudy sky. It has a somewhat surrealistic quality. As we pass by, we take a quick look at the price list, just out of curiosity. The prices are accurate. Then we go up to the roof and enjoy the beautiful view of the town. Afterwards, we return to the campsite in Vrouwenpolder.

During dinner, we talk about the lighthouse painting we saw in Westkapelle. It would be a great thing to have and we just happen to have a place for it at home. But go to Westkapelle again? And how to transport the painting, which is 70x70 cm in size, on the rest of our journey? But it would be tempting... So on Monday morning, just before we continue our journey to Zevenhuizen, I decide to send an email to the lighthouse museum. Just to see if we might get a response after two or three weeks.

In the afternoon, shortly after our arrival in Zevenhuizen, we already receive a response: "You are welcome to buy the painting and pick it up from us on Tuesday, Thursday or Friday. Please let us know when you will come, so that we can also inform the artist." We decide on Thursday.

And so yesterday we drove the 150 km back to Westkapelle to pick up the painting. We were warmly welcomed by the ladies who run the small museum and the art exhibitions. And lo and behold, Jan van Schalwijk, the artist, was also present. The handover went smoothly and we learned a lot from Jan about the projects he has done in the past, including stage designs for the opera in Amsterdam and stage decorations for Dutch television. We then said goodbye and happily drove back to Zevenhuizen with our new acquisition. Not without making a stop at the t' Lage Licht lighthouse - also known as Noorderhoofd - to take a few photos. After all, it is the one of the two Westkapelle lighthouses that is depicted in the painting.

By the way: Piet Mondrian came to Domburg and Westkapelle to paint because of the incomparable light that can only be found here in Zeeland. And we are convinced that there is also something of this very special light in our lighthouse painting.