Breakdown of Het was de kunstenaar die weigerde, buiten dat hij boos was.
zijn
to be
hij
he / it (referring to a 'de'-word)
boos
angry
het
it
de kunstenaar
the artist
weigeren
to refuse
die
who / that (relative pronoun)
buiten dat
besides the fact that
Questions & Answers about Het was de kunstenaar die weigerde, buiten dat hij boos was.
Why does the verb was go at the very end of the sentence?
The phrase buiten dat (besides the fact that) functions as a subordinating conjunction. In Dutch, subordinate clauses push the conjugated verb to the end of the clause. Therefore, was goes after boos.
Could I use behalve dat instead of buiten dat in this sentence?
Yes, they are interchangeable here. When used to add information (meaning "besides the fact that" or "apart from the fact that"), both buiten dat and behalve dat are perfectly fine. Note that behalve dat can also mean "except that" (introducing an exception rather than an addition), but context usually makes the intended meaning clear.
Since we are referring to a person, why use die instead of wie for "who"?
English speakers often want to translate "who" as wie. However, in Dutch relative clauses, you must use die to refer back to de-words (like de kunstenaar) and plurals, even when referring to people! Wie is generally only used for people after a preposition (for example, de kunstenaar met wie ik sprak - the artist with whom I spoke).
Why does the sentence start with Het was (It was) instead of Hij was (He was)?
This is a structure used to emphasize a specific part of a sentence. Just like in English ("It was the artist who..."), Dutch uses the dummy pronoun het to set up the emphasis. If you used Hij was de kunstenaar die..., it would simply mean "He was the artist who...", which loses the special emphasis singling out the exact person who refused.
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