Artist Willem den Ouden (97) died

Artist Willem den Ouden died at the age of 97. His publishing house has announced this, reports the NOS. Den Ouden was one of the most important landscape painters in the Netherlands. His work can be seen in the Rijksmuseum, among others.

Willem den Ouden was born on July 31, 1928 in Nijmegen. He followed his education at the Rijksakademie van Visual Arts in Amsterdam and then studied in Paris for some time. Although in his early years he flirted with abstraction and the avant-garde, he found his true voice in the landscape. The Waal can be seen at much work by the old, with immeasurable skies full of river light above it. Since 1967, Den Ouden lived in the Gelderse town of Varik on the river.

In the eighties and nineties, the painter took action against the dyke increases by Rijkswaterstaat, including at Herwijnen aan de Waal. The painter loved the river landscape and found the plans of the reinforcement too drastic. That gave him national fame. Poet Willem van Toorn was one of his supporters.

His resistance initially received a lot of acclaim, but after the rivers were confronted with high tide in 1995, he was confronted with me and was even threatened.

Since 2011, Den Ouden has focused on (self) portraits. In 2020 he painted Self -portrait with Corona mouth capafter he was told that he was infected with COVID-19.

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