Dirk Filarski is considered, together with Arnout Colnot, to be one of the pioneers of the Bergen School. He mainly painted landscapes in and around Bergen and Giethoorn and during his many travels in Europe and North Africa. Filarski initially used light colours, until 1910 he painted his earliest luminist works in Bergen. After that his palette changed to browns and greens and his work became powerful and expressionistic. He also painted still lifes and flowers, large-scale in grey tones and brightly contrasting colours. Filarski was restless by nature. He found it very difficult to live in one place and he travelled constantly to Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland. Bergen remained his base. ‘The Netherlands is too simple in colour. I have too little variation in mind’, he is said to have said once, this work of Paris is a beautiful example of that.