Christiaan Kuitwaard, Light on Moving Water (June 14, 2018), 2018
Christiaan Kuitwaard, Rolf's cottage, 2025
Christiaan Kuitwaard, Nocturne (Vlieland), 2024
Christiaan Kuitwaard, The Seasons - Spring, 2021
Christiaan Kuitwaard — Painter of Silence
Sunlight glistening on the water. A deserted beach. Silent trees in a forest. In an increasingly busy world, Christiaan Kuitwaard seeks silence. His paintings bear witness to this. In addition, with his series of 'white box paintings', he continually challenges himself to find new ways of depicting reality. And with his outdoor studies, he draws attention to the vulnerability of nature. Despite all the variety, the retrospective exhibition of Kuitwaard's art at Museum JAN in Amstelveen is above all a plea for slowing down and deepening our understanding.
Viewing experience
The paintings of Christiaan Kuitwaard (1965) are always based on observation. "My work is figurative," says the artist. "You can see what it represents. But I don't tell stories. I am an observer, and I report on what I see." He strives to create an image that provides just enough information to capture the viewing experience and allow it to be relived again and again. In this way, he attempts to circumvent the fleeting nature of the moment and stretch time out a little, as it were. "To create an image that stays with you, it is necessary to remove as much noise as possible. You have to quiet it down."
Afterimage
Kuitwaard is fascinated by the interplay of light and shadow, which makes things visible and at the same time constantly changes them. In his still lifes of everyday objects such as a chair or a cup and saucer, the image is mainly constructed from shades of light. In his interiors and landscapes, mostly beach and forest scenes, space is also defined by gradations of light and dark. Forms are blurred. The use of color is deliberately limited and subdued. Details are touched upon at most, not elaborated. Kuitwaard reduces visible reality to the strictly necessary, like an afterimage on the retina. His paintings thus transcend reality, but without losing touch with it.
Refuge
The exhibition at Museum JAN covers a period of more than thirty years of painting. A steadily growing group of enthusiasts proves the great appeal of Kuitwaard's art. The artist believes it is important that people can also express their own thoughts, experiences, or emotions in his work. "It may be blasphemous to some, but I don't really believe in art as a purely individual expression. I don't so much want to express something as I want to evoke something, namely silence, for myself and for others." In a society dominated by commotion and spectacle, Kuitwaard's paintings offer a welcome refuge.
Christiaan Kuitwaard, White Box Painting 489, 2021
Christiaan Kuitwaard, White Box Painting 569, 2023
Christiaan Kuitwaard, White Box Painting 593
White box paintings
A separate group within his oeuvre are the ‘white box paintings’, an ongoing series of still lifes based on a fixed concept. That concept consists of painting a white-painted object in a white box measuring 28 x 20 cm. Kuitwaard began this series in 2010. Within the self-imposed limitation, he constantly searches for new ways to depict a random object—a block, a flower, a skull. Sometimes he paints only a shadow, sometimes only the outline, in shades of gray or, conversely, in color, sometimes sharp, sometimes blurred. With an average of one still life per week, the series is approaching 700. Numbers 392 to 668 are being shown for the first time at Museum JAN. The accompanying publication contains texts by well-known writers who have been inspired by the still lifes.
Outdoor studies
A third group of works consists of small-format paintings created en plein air—in the open air. Most were created in Friesland, where Kuitwaard lives, or during trips to Scotland, Cornwall, Normandy, and other locations. "When studying outdoors, looking and painting come together," he explains. "You become completely absorbed in it. So that is also a form of stillness." Some studies end up in books that draw attention to the vulnerability of nature, in which the painter collaborates with poet Jan Kleefstra. Others serve as a source of inspiration for studio paintings.
Floor
Christiaan Kuitwaard's artistic mission is as clear as it is modest: "I hope that my paintings invite people to pause more often—literally—and reflect on the world around us. Because only by slowing down can you achieve depth. Then you suddenly see so much more."
Christiaan Kuitwaard (Sneek, 1965) was born and raised in Friesland. After high school, he served four years in the Royal Netherlands Navy. Between 1985 and 1991, he trained as a painter at the Minerva Academy in Groningen and the Constantijn Huygens University of Applied Sciences in Kampen. Since then, Kuitwaard has exhibited regularly in museums and galleries in the Netherlands and Belgium. His work can be found in the collections of the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden, Museum Belvédère in Heerenveen, and Museum MORE in Gorssel, as well as in private collections in the Netherlands and abroad. The exhibition 'Christiaan Kuitwaard – Painter of Silence' will be on display from April 10 to September 6, 2026, at Museum JAN, Dorpsstraat 50, Amstelveen (Tue-Sun 11 a.m.-5 p.m.).