Pinken in de branding

Black cattle stand knee-deep in the surf along the Dutch coast, their dark forms contrasting with the churning white foam. Mesdag, who abandoned a career in banking to devote himself to painting, became the foremost marine painter of the Hague School. His large-scale beach and seascape paintings, often executed in his studio from memory and sketches, capture the atmospheric drama of the North Sea coast with a tonalist palette of grays, browns, and muted greens.