About René Jansen

René Jansen (Groningen, 1956) graduated from Academie Minerva, academy of fine arts and design, in Groningen in 1983. His love of the still life, stimulated by such artists as Ben van Voorn and Matthijs Röling, has determined his style for the past 20 odd years. Although he also paints portraits, nudes and musicians, his growth as a painter can best be observed in his still-life paintings.

He developed from a restrained 'tonalist' to a confirmed colourist, his compositions gradually becoming more and more impressionistic. The compositions usually originate from the chaos inside his studio. Not tidying up the studio brings about that random objects obtain an important place within the work.

Moreover, the space in which the still life, as it were, looms up, is of the utmost importance. It is determinative to the atmosphere and enables the artist to find equilibrium between suggestive, broadly painted sections and more concretely worked out fragments.

"I hope foremost that my pleasure in painting and my love of the subject reflect from my work. Because without that, it has no meaning".