ABSTRACT
This chapter makes the case that the Neorealists’ interwar revivals of native Dutch Old Master motifs and techniques should be viewed as ironic updates to the traditions that they cite. With a focus on Carel Willink’s cityscapes, Raoul Hynckes’s still lifes, and Charley Toorop’s group portraits, this chapter posits that the Neorealists’ subversions of popular Golden Age themes serve to visualize the weakness of the Dutch grand narrative at a vulnerable time in the country’s history. The anti-chauvinist tradition in Dutch history, art history, and exhibition organization provides a backdrop for explaining this state of weakened nationalism in The Netherlands.
