Siebe Johannes ten Cate - Aarburg Castle, Switzerland

Siebe Johannes ten Cate (1858–1908)

View of Aarburg Castle, Switzerland

1898

Oil on canvas

36 × 51 cm

Frame: 48 × 63 cm

Provenance:

Private collection, Switzerland.

The landscape above has been included by the RKD in the forthcoming digital catalogue raisonné of Siebe ten Cate.

Additional information:

The Frisian Impressionist Siebe Johannes ten Cate was a born traveler. He was born in Sneek and lost both of his parents at a young age. Thanks to the family fortune he inherited, he was able to move to Paris at the age of twenty after completing his studies in The Hague and Antwerp. There he found his true inspiration and developed into a painter with a distinctly Impressionist style.

In Paris, Ten Cate became friends with artists such as Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley. He shared a studio with Kees van Dongen and met Vincent van Gogh, who mentioned him in his letters. He exhibited regularly in the Netherlands and abroad, including at the prestigious Paris Salon.

Although Paris became his permanent home, he continued to travel extensively. He visited Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, England, Scandinavia, Germany, and North Africa, among other places. These journeys became an important source of inspiration. His oeuvre ranges from tranquil landscapes to lively city scenes. From Lake Lucerne and the forests around Zwolle to the markets of Seville, the banks of the Thames, and the bustling streets of Paris, he captured everyday life wherever he went.

Ten Cate frequently worked en plein air, allowing him to observe changing light and daily life directly. His pastels in particular, his preferred medium, possess a remarkable quality. They capture a moment as though recorded with a camera using a long exposure. Movement blurs, forms dissolve softly into one another, and the atmosphere lingers. Through loose brushstrokes and pastel marks, vivid effects of light, and a subtle, dreamlike haze, Ten Cate found a unique way of conveying light, movement, and humanity. In addition to paintings and pastels, he also produced a small number of etchings and lithographs.

Today, his work is represented in the collections of institutions including the Rijksmuseum, the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Musée Carnavalet, and the Fries Museum. Since 2020, the Siebe ten Cate Foundation has been dedicated to bringing renewed attention to his oeuvre. This has led, among other things, to an extensive RKD study and a catalogue raisonné published in 2025, followed by a concise monograph in September 2026. Two exhibitions, in both the Netherlands and France, are also in development.