Early Work

Welcome to the first room of this retrospective. Here you step into the formative years of Thijs Sterk, in which his artistic roots in the Bergense School are powerfully felt. In these early works, Sterk searches for the tranquil soul of the Dutch landscape and everyday life. Look at the deep earth tones, the heavy, monumental contours and the melancholic twilight enveloping the polder villages, wintry Amsterdam canals and quiet farmyards. Whether it concerns the angular shape of a few pears, a hearse in the snow or grazing light on an Amersfoort windmill; the light here always breaks expressively through the dark. Allow yourself to be carried away by this subdued quest.