Jan Wolkersartist • sculptorOegstgeest 1925-2007 Westermient

Jan Wolkers is one of the most controversial post-war Dutch artists. After his academy he initially made figurative sculptures and paintings. At the age of about 35, in the early sixties, a change took place and he started making abstract objects. These were often reliefs of iron scrap, bolts and screws or other banal material in white or dark, earthy colours. The essence of this for the artist was the geometry, the mastery of forms and the structure created by the repetition. At that time, Wolkers also made reliefs of wood, synthetic resin and sand. In the sixties he also becomes successful as a writer of novels and stories, which gives him great freedom of movement as an artist. From about 1987 light and colour are the central theme of his work.