Mathias J. Alten established himself as an artist and member of the Grand Rapids community following his arrival in 1889. His production as a studio painter increased in the years leading up to the twentieth century as he applied himself to becoming a professional artist. Alten created a variety of landscapes and still lifes, particularly floral arrangements, which were highly detailed and featured a dark color palette. 

In 1898, seeking additional training and exposure to the academic rigors at the center of the art world, Alten joined the artists’ pilgrimage to Paris. After applying for his citizenship and passport in early November, he returned to Europe nearly a decade after emigrating from Germany. Alten enrolled at the Académie Julian and later at the Académie Colarossi.

During this trip, Alten also explored Italy, painting and visiting museums in Rome, Florence, Siena, and other cities. In France, he painted landscapes and peasants, especially along the northern coast at Étaples, and visited the Netherlands and Belgium. When he arrived home in September 1899, the world was on the cusp of a new century, and he had been filled with knowledge, experience, and passion for art. 

In the decades before the turn of the century, a prominent group of artists lived and worked near the Dutch coast in The Hague. Inspired by the French Barbizon school, these artists conveyed atmosphere and mood through subdued colors and the use of grey.  Known as the “Hague School,” these painters also responded to the rapid industrialization of society by painting scenes of rural life tinged with longing for simpler times.

Alten traveled to the Netherlands in August of 1910 with his family and student, Norman Chamberlain (1887-1961). He remained for nearly an entire year, producing over 150 works depicting local landscapes and scenes of labor throughout the rural countryside and along the coast of the North Sea. He would have undoubtedly been influenced by the legacy of the Hague School artists, as well as the landscape and climate of the Netherlands.

In 1912, Mathias Alten took the first of a series of trips to Spain that would profoundly influence his career. Although his second visit would be delayed until after the First World War and the lingering economic uncertainty of the 1920-21 Recession, the impact of these Spanish trips was evident in more than just the paintings he produced on location. His color palette, which expanded with his exposure to Impressionism, lightened considerably following his first visit. Increasingly during his second trip in 1922 and final trip in 1928, a vibrant color spectrum and lighter touch were evident in his work.

On every trip Alten took to Spain, he based himself in Cabañal, the small fishing village near Valencia. As in his experience in the Netherlands, Alten sought out an environment with traditional laborers and nostalgic settings. Instead of herring boats and draft horses, sardine boats and oxen took center stage in his brilliant compositions. Alten knew his audience’s tastes. He understood the types of works that appealed to his Michigan clients, and, even with their relatively exotic locales and subject matter, the artist reiterated his interest in showing the old ways of doing things.

Throughout the 1930s, Alten largely kept his travels within the State of Michigan, painting in Leland, Saugatuck, and around Grand Rapids. A trip to Tarpon Springs, Florida, in 1935 was his last major trip outside the state and resulted in over 30 vibrant canvases showcasing the local sponge boats and crews at idle. He returned to paint still lifes of flowers, often near a window in his home, with light filtering through the composition in an impressionistic manner. Alten also created another series of self-portraits, additional portraits, and a series of nudes. In February of 1938, he participated in a three-artist show in Chicago and died of a heart attack in his home at age 67 just a month later.

Over a career spanning four decades, Alten painted more than 3,000 works of art. His commitment to the city and state that welcomed him as an immigrant in 1889 was repeatedly demonstrated in the number of scenes and portraits featuring Michigan landscapes and residents. Alten took advantage of advances in technology and transportation to further his training and career. Amongst a rapidly changing world, he celebrated traditional laborers in rural settings, ignoring rapid modernization in favor of nostalgic scenes. As Grand Rapids’ most celebrated artist, Alten’s views of Michigan record its beauty during the first four decades of the twentieth century and are evidence of an immigrant and artist who found a home there.