Homage to Jan

Overview

In August 2021, Jan Andriesse (1950) passed away. For over three decades, he lived and worked on his houseboat along the Amstel River, where he developed an oeuvre defined by light, space, and stillness-yet equally by his precise observation of natural phenomena. His paintings, gouaches, and drawings emerged from sensory encounters with the world around him: the geometry of the earth, the curved lines of the hyperbola and parabola, the arc of the rainbow, and the force of gravity guiding the catenary line. A visit to his studio in 2015 revealed a space immersed in thought and research. Maps covered the floor, and on one wall-a vast mood board-hung texts, clippings, sketches, and drawn lines. A map of the Indonesian Archipelago, where Andriesse was born, had a chain pinned to it, tracing the islands like an "Emerald Belt". He was a painter, philosopher, perhaps even a mathematician-but above all, an artist with a distinct and sensitive eye for beauty. Although few works were completed, they bear the mark of deep conceptual inquiry and an enduring reverence for the old masters and their understanding of light, composition, and color.

This intellectual and mathematical approach to nature formed the foundation of his long-standing friendship with fellow artist Jurriaan Molenaar (1968). Both shared a fascination with geometry, perspective, and the structure of space. While Andriesse engaged with the physical world through philosophical reflection and sensory perception, Molenaar approaches the canvas as a field for geometric exploration and mathematical clarity. The two artists regularly visited each other's studios, finding common ground in their scientific curiosity-not only in the empirical sense, but also in the philosophical dimensions of order, logic, and form. Their friendship was rooted in a shared pursuit of insight, and in the belief that art is not separate from thought, but rather its extension: a visual expression of intellectual precision and poetic clarity.

Adjusted opening hours
The exhibition can be visited on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 13 - 17hrs
and by appointment
Closed on Friday 18 April

Works