W.G.C. Byvanck en de ‘ziel van Parijs’

W.G.C. Byvanck and the ‘Soul of Paris’

When Willem Byvanck published his Paris 1891 in January 1892, most reactions in the Netherlands were lukewarm, if not negative. Lodewijk van Deyssel, in particular, criticized the work, arguing that Byvanck “borrowed” nearly all his information from other sources. This view was far too short-sighted and, besides, neglected the work’s originality. In Paris 1891, Byvanck shows how a number of French artists used art to share their own sensory experiences with readers and spectators. The work of art, in Byvanck’s eyes, thus becomes an agent capable of inducing unprecedented aesthetic pleasure.