Johan Jongkind

Johan Barthold Jongkind painted harbours, rivers, beaches and canals with quick, vigorous brushwork and big skies over low horizons. He cared more about the changing light and weather than about finish, which made him an important forerunner of Impressionism.

Born in Lattrop in the Netherlands, he trained in The Hague under Andreas Schelfhout and moved to Paris in 1846 to study with Eugène Isabey. He spent much of his life in France, painting Paris and the Normandy coast, and settled near Grenoble in 1878. Claude Monet credited him with the real education of his eye. Jongkind often made watercolours outdoors and turned them into oil paintings in the studio. His work is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Gallery, London.

In Etretat Harbour and his moonlit river views, look at how few strokes he needs to suggest boats and water.