Gerda Ten Thije

Ten Thije is a painter par excellence. She primarily depicts nature and landscape, but she does not opt for the standard scenery and its beauty. The painting in the collection is a polder landscape with a farm. The polder seems flooded but you cannot be completely sure. The overall picture is determined by the presence of a huge barn behind the farmhouse. When you notice how the paint seems to splash against the barn, you realise that the polder is indeed flooded. However, the cloudy sky and water carry their own abstraction that comes from the painting technique. The farmhouse and the barn hang in between this abstraction like a picture from the past and present. When Ten Thije also adds plant or tree-like shapes in the foreground – something she often does in her work – you lose your confidence in the realism even more. What's the story with the perspective, seems to be the question. The painter paints her landscapes without compromise.

Gerda Ten Thije (Hengelvelde, 1961) works in Arnhem.

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