Vaas met bloemen

Description

In his early years Sluijters experimented with various modern movements, which he became particularly acquainted with during his stay in Paris. Fascinated by the expressive possibilities of shape and colour, he often painted exuberant pictures. He strove for a personal interpretation of his subject rather than an objective representation of reality. He searched experimentally ‘for the eternal concepts of beauty and harmony’, as he himself put it. During the 1920s, certain aspects of his work became more traditional. In terms of the subject matter, his 1929 "Vaas met bloemen" (Vase of Flowers) is in keeping with the long tradition of floral still lifes we can see throughout the history of Dutch art. The middle of the picture features a vase or jug with various flowers painted against a dark background. We can see a small section of the table or cabinet on which the vase is standing in an otherwise undefined room. Here Sluijters paints a blue cloth around the base of the vase. The white, red and pink flowers light up against the purple-grey background. The artist’s loose brushstrokes and the way he opts to suggest details rather than hone them in an intricate way betray his knowledge of Expressionism.

[2020]

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