Concept

Inspired by early 20th-century painting, Evert Thielen produces realistic works with a symbolic connotation.

He borrows his habit of signing each panel and the multiple layers of tempera and oil paint from 15th-century painting.

In works of lesser dimensions he often depicts interiors in which people, particularly women, are placed.

The emphasis is often on the interaction between several people, expressed by exchanged glances, for example.

Clair-obscur, the carefully worked out light and shade sections, enhance the mutual relationship between the figures.

Light is also central in his nudes and portraits.

The inspiration for his polyptichs (a total of six to date) can be found in the term Gesamtkunstwerk (total art work): the representation of multifaceted subjects as a macrocosm.

Several reality levels, painted with a high level of detail and linked by a multifaceted visual technique, encapsulated in an artificial composition scheme.