Landscape in the evening sun

Hans Butzelaar, born in Amsterdam in 1945, has always had a great interest in visual arts.

In his younger years, up until the age of 22, he painted and sculpted. During his working life, he collected paintings and always found time to visit a museum or gallery on his many travels around the world.

In 2000, he retired and immediately resumed his old love for visual arts. He took lessons in painting and sculpture (and still does) and tried to develop his own style. Studying his favorite painters (including Nicolas de Staël, Otto B. de Kat, and Modigliani) taught him a lot as well.

All other aspects, such as form, composition, structure, and color, arise from the daily struggle with the canvas on the easel. He does not seek to convey a message but tries to create something pleasant to look at. His challenges are mainly of a painterly nature: that transparent green, that beautiful faded blue next to it, which warm gray would best suit it? His interest in form and color has recently been leaning more towards abstraction; he is looking for a style in which abstraction and impressionism can merge.

All his paintings are framed, to which he pays a lot of attention. Landscapes, such as Terschelling, Southern France, and the view from his studio, the Utrecht polder landscape, and portraits are his favorite subjects.

His work is characterized by restrained use of color.