TRES GRACIAS || Poen de Wijs

Poen de Wijs



Poen de Wijs (Dutch artist) 1948 - 2014
Studie voor de Drie Gratiën-6 (Study for the Three Graces-6), 1991
watercolour and oil on panel (marouflé)
55 x 55 cm.
signed Poen de Wijs
private collection

The three daughters of Zeus and Euronyme were called Aglaia (Brilliance), Euphrosyne (Delight) and Thaleia (Bloom).

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POEN DE WIJS IN THE RETINUE OF THE THREE GRACES

The Three Graces, where do you start?
A friend, who is an art historian, presented me with a list of relevant works of art and museums, and found me a number of representations and books. At the Louvre in Paris I discovered the oldest relief from Thasos, as well as paintings from the late 18th-century painter Regnault and the ornate Boucher.
During a trip to Florence I visited the Uffizi Palace. It contains one of the most beautiful Renaissance paintings, "La Primavera" by Botticelli, depicting the three Graces in the retinue of Venus. At the Pitti Palace I saw a small grisaille panel by Rubens. Little by little I discovered the connection, the development of the story throughout the ages. Its history fascinated me a great deal.

What constituted your beginning?
I started with a study in watercolour of the Greek relief I had seen at the Louvre; i.e. an art-historical beginning, followed by interpretations of a Roman mural, a part of Botticelli's "Primavera" and versions of Rubens, Boucher and Regnault. I slaved my way through the history of art. Gradually the three Graces got hold of me again. New associations emerged: fragmentary memories of classical symbols of fertility and love, of structure and compositional forms. With this it became easier to proceed, to digest the impression that struck me on that tram, all those years before. I did not need to get into any complex fabrications in order to express "racial integration" or in order to create a contrived contemporary version. My models were simply added. And with that, images came into being with references to past, present and future. The most curious thing was, really, that during the creation of this series of watercolours, panels, paintings and lithographs it turned out that everything I had learned during the past 25 years of painting converged and culminated.

Interview with Michaela van Rijckevorsel from “Poen de Wijs – The Three Graces”, publication Gallery Bonnard 1991

Poen de Wijs