The Avenue at Middelharnis, Meindert Hobbema (1689)
Meindert Hobbema has created a remarkable effect in this unusual painting, using the trees of the avenue to funnel our view directly into the heart of the picture and as strong verticals to take the eye upwards. Our gaze is also drawn sideways into the landscape, through both the track which turns off to the right and the strong lateral lines of the paths and fields on the left. It’s as though there is a three-dimensional grid – an invisible geometry – underlying the whole painting.
