After dinner
Signed lower right
Charcoal, pastel and watercolour on paper
48 x 61,5 cm.
Provenance: Private collection, Belgium
Jardin des Tuileries, Paris
Signed and dated lower right, 1911
Mixed media on paper
45,5 x 59 cm.
Provenance: Private collection, The Netherlands
The big day on the Kagermeer, 1917
Signed lower right
Mixed media on paper
49.5 x 65 cm.
New years eve
Signed lower right
Charcoal on paper
28,2 x 21 cm.
Piet van der Hem is famous for his portraits, hunting scenes and political prints. A royal grant provided him with the opportunity to work in Paris for a year in 1907. During this year, he became familiar with the work of artists like Steinlen and Toulouse-Lautrec.
Between 1909 and 1914, Van der Hem was one of the representatives of Dutch Luminism. Van der Hem was never seen as a modernist because his use of colours was too realistic.
His early paintings depicted themes such as Parisian night life, but later on his interest shifted to a more powerful style of painting which lent some of his pieces a more sober quality. In 1918, Van der Hem settled permanently in The Hague, where he worked on commission, producing mainly portraits.