Nico Heilijgers

Dutch artist Nico Heilijgers works in the tradition of the great seventeenth-century still life painters. In his work we see conventional objects such as crispy vegetables, juicy fruit and beautiful pottery. But for Nico it is not so much about the representation of the beauty of a cabbage, for him the object serves as a means of applying independent areas of color to the panel. Abstract values such as shape, color, rhythm and material ultimately determine the painting.

Accurately in bright colors and with a simplified composition, Nico creates tension in his realistic and lively still lifes. Heilijgers' paintings are characterized by aesthetics, harmony and atmosphere, whereby the intangible, the unnamable - call it poetry - elevates the image above the simple representation. "I use images from everyday life and try to evoke endearment without sentiment with minimal means, and concealed humor without a burst of laughter."

In recent years, Nico Heilijgers' compositions have been simplified by depicting fewer elements and large areas are left empty. This is how tension is built up. The colors have become brighter and applied in a looser and faster way. Recently, the artist has also focused on cityscapes.

Nico Heilijgers was educated at the Minerva Academy in Groningen, where he was taught by artists such as Matthijs Röling (1943) and Diederik Kraaijpoel (1928). He lives and works in Utrecht, the Netherlands