Robert Zandvliet is an artist concerned with the combined act of observation and introspection. Over the course of nearly thirty years, Zandvliet has presented his work across Europe and the US, and been the subject of major solo exhibitions with the Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL), the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL), De Pont Museum, Tilburg (NL) and the Kunstmuseum, Bonn (DE).
Zandvliet’s approach to painting evolves gradually over time – constantly questioning, honing and expanding his understanding of an element of his practice. For example, from 2011 – 2018, the artist focused on the nuance and depth of a darker palette. Emerging from this deep study to capture the truth of his subject, he was led to begin a new series titled Le Corps de la Couleur in which he sought to investigate the essence of colour itself. Another series saw Zandvliet investigate the influence and development of art history in I owe you the truth in painting; and in Stage of Being, he invested himself into the question of what the figure meant in his paintings. As the artist comments, “I look to find the gaps in my knowledge, the underexposed components in my oeuvre, question these and dive into them to find new solutions.” Throughout each series, landscape returns to Zandvliet again and again, marking a consistent thread throughout his practice.
While deeply concerned with elemental subjects and the natural world, Zandvliet’s work resists realism, instead capturing and drawing attention to the artifice and painterly gesture of the work. His career has been one of constant evolution and experimentation, exploring the interplay of light and shadow, ideas around authenticity and reproduction, the materiality of the canvas and the distinct qualities of line, colour and depth to relate to landscape and space. Using landscape as a framework, his minimal approach shifts and merges foreground and background, subject and negative space, to reorient the viewer’s perception of depth and surface.
Robert Zandvliet (b. 1970 in Terband, NL) lives in Rotterdam and works in Haarlem (NL). He received an MFA from De Ateliers, Amsterdam (NL) in 1994. He is a recipient of the Prix de Rome (1994), the Charlotte Köhler Prize (1998) and the Wolvecamp Prize (2004).
Recent exhibitions include: Pink Moon, GRIMM, London (UK); Florilegium: Overview 1998 – 2023, Peter Blum Gallery, New York, NY (US); Hint of Spring, Galerie Onrust, Amsterdam (NL); Le corps de la couleur, Galerie Bernard Knaus, Frankfurt am Main (DE); Beyond These Walls, AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL) and My World, curated by Hans den Hartog Jager, Singer Laren, Laren (NL).
His work is part of prominent collections such as ABN AMRO Art Foundation (NL); AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL); Colby College, Museum of Art, Waterville, ME (US); De Nederlandsche Bank (NL); De Vleeshal, Middelburg (NL); The David and Indrė Roberts Collection, London (UK); Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht (NL); H + F Collection, Rotterdam (NL); KPN Art Collection, The Hague (NL); Kunstmuseum, Bonn (DE); Kunstmuseum, Luzern (CH); Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL); Microsoft Art Collection, Redmond, WA (US); Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Strasbourg (FR); Museum Belvédère, Heerenveen (NL); De Pont Museum, Tilburg (NL); Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar (NL); M HKA, Antwerp (BE); Rijksmuseum Collection (NL); Rabobank Art Collection (NL) and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL) among others.
GRIMM represents the artist in London (UK), in close collaboration with Galerie Onrust in Amsterdam (NL). The artist is also represented by Peter Blum Gallery in New York, NY (US) and Bernhard Knaus Fine Art, Frankfurt am Main (DE).
