Rudi Polderartist • painterDen Haag 1926-2016 Leidschendam

Rudi Polder received his first painting lessons from his father, Gert, and also studied at the academies of The Hague and Antwerp. After the Second World War, he decided to travel to the southern French coast, where he lived and worked almost continuously for some 35 years. He was drawn to the light of the Mediterranean coast in all its variations. Polder captured it on canvas in a very light palette of soft yellows, soft blues, and greens. The light that dominates all his subjects—a sun breaking through, gathering mist, the evening sun on the sea—combined with his blond palette, gave rise to the term 'blondism' among French critics. After an initial impressionist style, Polder transitioned via luminism to an abstract style of painting in later life. He exhibited in Paris and, after leaving for the Netherlands in 1959, in Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands, among other countries.