Kees Smits
The Geometry of the Flat Landscape Amsterdam serves as the current base for Kees Smits, an artist whose practice is rooted in the tension between the horizontal expanse of the Dutch landscape and the rigid constraints of geometric abstraction. Born in 1945 in Kortgene, NL, Smits does not seek to replicate the scenery through traditional perspective. Instead, he translates the panoramic experience of the lowlands into a language of planes and shapes. His works often reject the single, unified canvas, opting instead for several panels that stretch across the wall to mimic the wide, uninterrupt…
The Subject Atlas
A chart of Kees Smits's corpus mapped not by date but by subject. Spokes are what they painted; rings are when; and the threads between stars reveal the patrons and places that secretly connect them.
Spokes — Subject
Each arm of the atlas gathers works by what they depict: portraits, sacred scenes, mythologies, and the scientific studies. Click a spoke to swing that cluster to the top.
Rings — Career Period
Distance from the center marks time. The innermost ring is the earliest period; the outermost, the final years. Style matures as you move outward.
Threads — Shared Context
Coloured lines link works bound by the same patron, commission, or theme. Trace a context to watch related clusters light up across subjects.