The visual language of Henk Krijger was strongly expressionistic until the 1950s. His compositions are well-considered and the figures are usually large, so that they almost completely fill the picture. As a result, his work from that period has a monumental quality, which is strongly reminiscent of the paintings by Henk Chabot and those of the Flemish expressionists Gust de Smeth and Permeke. It will come as no surprise that Krijger was also an excellent monumental artist, who made glass mosaics, large sculptures and wall paintings. He was also a well-known illustrator of fairy tales, novellas and poems.