The Fish Market at Bruges

In this picture of the Bruges fish market, a variant of a 1889 painting with the same motif, Schwaiger only slightly modified the town square, turning it into a long street full of people, and more than in the earlier picture emphasized the elements of colour and light in his overall concept. The painter completed the picture on Christmas Eve in 1906 after studies he made during his third trip to Holland and Flanders in the summer of that year. From his sketches and memories he preserved the immediacy of movement. The colours are somewhat darker, the grey sky above and the reflections in the puddles fully express the atmosphere of a wet, rainy day.