“Lady in a Spanish costume”

Year:	1930 -1940
Medium:	watercolor
Dimensions:	50 x 33 cm
Signature:	lower right

Harmen Meurs was a Dutch painter, born on January 17, 1891, in Wageningen, and died on November 16, 1964, in Speuld. He was a prominent figure in the Dutch art world, especially in the first half of the 20th century. Meurs's work includes still lifes, landscapes, peasant scenes, and figures, and his style evolved from Post-Impressionism to Cubo-Expressionism and Fauvism, eventually becoming more realistic with influences from the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Sobriety). Meurs studied with the political cartoonist Louis Raemaekers and took evening courses at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (National Academy of Fine Arts) in Amsterdam. He was a member of the artists' association "De Onafhankelijken" (The Independents) and later became its chairman. Meurs organized high-profile exhibitions, including one on German post-expressionist art ("Neue Sachlichkeit") at the Stedelijk Museum in 1929 and one on German and Belgian surrealism in 1930. Harmen Meurs was a fierce opponent of National Socialism and expressed his political views in his work, such as in "Tijdsbeeld 1933-1934" and "Protest tegen Nazi-terror" (Protest against Nazi Terror). He was an influential figure in the Dutch art world and exhibited both domestically and internationally. Spain was a country he visited several times. It was likely there that he found inspiration for this watercolor.