Fellowships 2024 - Arjen Bloem

Willem van der Does: light and colors in the tropics

The Dutch painter Willem van der Does (1889-1966), well known in the Dutch East Indies, was in awe of the light and colours of the tropics. Thus, he enjoyed painting landscapes, as well as many ship portraits in the Dutch East Indies. However, it was not the only thing that interested him in painting. A deep desire he had long cherished was growing stronger and stronger: to visit the Antarctic and see the polar lights. In 1923 his dream came true when, after some unsuccessful attempts to join a whaling crew in several European ports, he was finally allowed to participate in a Norwegian whaling expedition aboard the factory ship Sir James Clark Ross to the Ross Sea, a deep bay in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. 

The first Dutchman in Antarctica

This expedition from Sandefjord (the Norwegian capital of the whaling industry) was seen as a pioneering voyage within Norwegian commercial whaling. Never before had a commercial whaler attempted to hunt in the Ross Sea. During Van der Does' participation in this expedition, he made many ink drawings and sketches for later paintings. Because of the expedition, he became the first Dutchman to set foot on the Antarctic landmass in 1924. 

In 1934, Van der Does introduced Dutch readers to whaling around Antarctica with his richly illustrated travelogue Storm, ijs en walvisschen: een moderne vikingtocht met Noorsche walvischvaarders naar de Zuidelijke IJszee.. A waterway hitherto unknown to Dutch whaling, but that would not last long. In 1946, the Netherlands reintroduced whaling with the destination not the far north, as in earlier periods, but the deep south. 

Van der Does' artistic legacy

During my master's thesis at the University of Groningen, I studied the literary incorporation of this report in the Netherlands, with a focus on ideological and geopolitical aspects. As a Prof J.C.M. Warnsinck Fellow, my focus is on the artistic perspective, examining the painting ‘A Norwegian Whaler in the Ice’. This work, presumably made between 1955 and 1965 and now part of the collection of the National Maritime Museum, still raises questions, such as which ship is depicted on it and within which discourse Van der Does' work can be placed. In addition, I examine how his work can be interpreted in light of the reintroduction of Dutch whaling in the 20th century. 

Van der Does' account also offers new insights into polar expeditions, especially in the context of hunting techniques but also in terms of climate change in his artistic reflection. Willem van der Does' work shows a world that has largely disappeared or is on the verge of disappearing for contemporary man, thus offering a valuable historical perspective on Dutch polar history.