SUZE ROBERTSON
1855 – The Hague – 1922
A LADY WITH AN UMBRELLA
black chalk on paper, 380 x 220 mm
signed lower left: Suze Robertson
provenance:
the artist’s estate;
Sara Eckhart-Bisschop (1894-1992), daughter of the artist;
David Eckart, son of the above;
with Hein Klaver, Baarn.
exhibited:
Eindhoven, Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Suze Robertson, 29 March – 25 May 1958, no. 54.
While trained within the tradition of the Hague School, Suze Robertson deliberately moved beyond its emphasis on atmospheric naturalism, forging a distinctive visual language. Over the course of nearly four decades, she developed an oeuvre of still lifes, figure studies, and austere interiors in which everyday motifs are transformed into images of restraint, intensity, and timelessness, as evident in this work.
Through this approach, Robertson positioned herself between established nineteenth-century conventions and emerging modernist tendencies, laying important groundwork for expressionism in the Netherlands. Toward the end of her life, she became a key source of inspiration for younger artists, including Piet Mondrian, and a role model for women artists such as Charley Toorop. Her contemporaries regarded her, alongside Vincent van Gogh, as one of the founders of modern art in the Netherlands.
Suze Robertson, born in The Hague, occupied an exceptional position within Dutch art around 1900. As one of the first professional women artists in the Netherlands, she worked in a predominantly male artistic environment and consciously distanced herself from prevailing expectations regarding female artists and “appropriate” subject matter.
Robertson was well integrated in contemporary artistic circles. As a member of Pulchri Studio in The Hague, she regularly exhibited her work and maintained contact with artists such as George Breitner and Hendrik Willem Mesdag. At the same time, she pursued an independent artistic path. Whereas many of her contemporaries remained committed to direct observation and naturalistic representation, Robertson increasingly emphasized the expressive potential of form and color as carriers of emotions. This shift aligned her work with broader European developments toward modernism and expressionism, while setting her apart from both academic painting and dominant realist traditions.
In her later work, Robertson’s style became more forceful and her use of color increasingly non-naturalistic, without fully abandoning figuration. This placed her in a distinct position relative to younger avant-garde movements in France and Germany, which more radically rejected representational form. It was precisely this balanced approach—grounded in tradition yet oriented toward innovation—that made her work influential for a subsequent generation of artists.