Jan Sluijters (Netherlands, 1881 - 1957)

Johannes Carolus Sluijters was born in Den Bosch on 17 December 1881 and died in Amsterdam on 8 May 1957. He began his training as an artist at the Academie van Den Bosch and continued his studies in Amsterdam at the Rijksnormaalschool and the Rijksacademie. He won the Prix de Rome in 1904 and went to Paris where his academic style made way for more modern artistic tendencies. His work in this period caused great controversy due to its modernity.

Back in the Netherlands he became one of the most important avant-garde painters and a pioneer of various postimpressionist movements in art.  He quickly became one of the most sought-after portrait painters and still life specialists. His virtuoso brush work and expressive use of colour are particularly striking in his still lifes. Sluijters is regarded as one of the most important Dutch painters of the first half of the 20th century.

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