| Drawbridge in Nieuw Amsterdam (F1098) | |
| Artist: | Vincent van Gogh |
| Year: | 1883 |
| Type: | Watercolor |
| Metric Unit: | cm |
| Imperial Unit: | in |
| City: | Groninger, Netherlands[1] |
| Museum: | Groninger Museum |
Drawbridge in Nieuw-Amsterdam is a watercolor created in November 1883 by Vincent van Gogh in Drente, The Netherlands.[2]
Van Gogh wrote to his brother, Theo, of the view outside his room in Nieuw-Amsterdam, Drenthe: "I now have a reasonably large room where a stove has been placed, where there happens to be a small balcony. From which I can even see the heath with the huts. I also look out on a very curious drawbridge." Within the letter he drew a sketch of the bridge, which became the watercolor, Drawbridge in Nieuw-Amsterdam.[3]
The work was one of 148 watercolors made by Van Gogh, who said of working in that medium in 1881:
What a splendid thing watercolour is to express atmosphere and distance,
so that the figure is surrounded by air and can breathe in it, as it were.[4]
Five years after having made this work, van Gogh made Langlois Bridge at Arles in France which captures a lighter mood.[5]