René Heeres artist

Edvard Munch is also one of my NO heroes 😉

I always look  at his backgrounds. For me, as a painter, to make an interesting background is not easy to do. Also to make it match with the motives you are putting in. Which technique does the artist use, to accomplish that?

In the first painting – the sick child, made in 1885- I especially admire the way Munch painted the cushion. The red colour of the hair of the girl, is sort of shining in the pillow.

In the second one, “Parish nude”, made in 1896, the painting looks more simple. He also puts a contour around a part of the woman. The brushstrokes are less visible. He is thinking more in “colour fields”. It makes the painting more “flat”. He even doesn’t bother, to give the woman a real face. I think, because it’s now more a matter of art and what you can do with paint, how you can solve problems you encounter as an artist. Then it is to paint a real figurative painting. And don’t forget, in these days artists had to compete with photography.

So they had to invent new ways, of how to cope with their art. What do I want with my paintings?

Is it just a coincidence, that Munch is also a painter from Scandinavia? Like Per Kirkeby? I really don’t know.