As usual in his cityscapes of The Hague, Floris Arntzenius (1864-1925) painted the Spuistraat in grey, cloudy weather. It must have just rained, because the asphalt is shiny and reflects the cloudy sky. A strong wind blows through the street and stirs up the clothes of the chic passers-by. In an interview from 1910, Arntzenius explains why he liked to paint these kinds of streets: “A facade like that, you see, that is a wonderful thing. All those signs and flagpoles, all that whimsical. And then just a little color here and there. Some red. Sometimes yellow. Just a tip."
The Spuistraat
The Spuistraat, together with the Noordeinde, is one of the places in The Hague that Arntzenius has drawn and painted the most. The collection of the Haags Historisch Museum also contains the smallest Spuistraat he ever painted: an 8.3 cm high painting, intended for Lita de Ranitz's big dollhouse.