Armand Ferdinand Xavier Boutenartist • painter • watercolourist • draughtsmanVenlo 1893-1965 Amsterdam

The Dutch expressionist Armand Bouten has long remained unknown to the general public. In the 1920s and 1930s, he and his wife, the artist Hanny Korevaar, traveled throughout Europe: France, Eastern Europe, Hungary, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, before returning to Amsterdam in the 1940s. Initially, Bouten's oeuvre shows a colorful optimism, with landscapes and party scenes, but gradually a darker palette and more melancholic themes take over. His social commitment means that he puts people, as victims of industrial society, at the center of his work. In 2008/2009, the Groninger Museum showed the first retrospective of Bouten's work, which meant a renewed acquaintance with an idiosyncratic expressionist.