Interior of a Barn

Egbert van der Poel

1644

Oil on panel

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A dark, atmospheric interior of a barn with figures engaged in various activities. A carcass hangs from the ceiling, and domestic scenes unfold in the dim light. The children are fighting, the woman has stopped working on a cow carcass to scold them. Just another day in the barn. Egbert van der Poel, a respected Dutch artist who thought of himself as a landscape painter, painted many such scenes of country life. Dramatic images of burning buildings at night were a specialty, as were interior tableaus like this one. The buckets, basins, and bowls near the woman resemble the household still lifes for which Dutch artists in the 1600s were known. Gallery G312 The John R. Van Derlip Fund