In the light of two impressionists / In het licht van twee impressionisten
Joost Doornik and Hans Versfelt
Professional artists Joost Doornik and Hans Versfelt will exhibit at the DUNAatelier in Katwijk from 2 May to 15 June. The exhibition is entitled ‘In the light of two impressionists’.
The two artists prefer to paint in the open air (‘en plein air’). They found a connection with the French and Dutch impressionists of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Like these, the friends find their subjects everywhere: people, landscapes and cityscapes.
Joost Doornik, who lives in Groningen, can often be found in the city but also in the surrounding countryside. He was brought up on art and it was logical for him to follow the path of the impressionist artists he got to know on trips to museums. Doornik is particularly fascinated by light and its influence on the chosen subject. Not the bright daylight but especially the softer evening light plays the leading role. Delivering quality is his main focus. In summer, he organises painting courses, preferably in sunny Italy.
Joost Doornik and Hans VersfeltHans Versfelt lives in Breda and discovered painting himself because drawing suited him well as a child. During his academy days, he painted many portraits and models. Especially at the academy in Antwerp, there was plenty of room and opportunity for this. After his time there, Versfelt discovered that he had learned a lot in that field, but that landscape and depth painting had lagged behind. He therefore decided to go outside more to learn that. After doing this for a while, he discovered that his real love for painting was working plein-air and not in a studio. He says that his main thing is to choose what he finds most important once he has found a place to put his easel. For him, it does not matter under what weather conditions he paints. He wants to make something beautiful out of everything in which the most important thing is to depict the moment and the atmosphere.
The artists met in 2010 when they were both invited to participate in the week ‘ Katwijk En Plein Air, painting by the sea’ in the DUNA studio. Since then, they have regularly painted together, with Hans Versfelt usually coming to Groningen. He is originally from the north. Joost likes Hans to take the lead in choosing where to paint. His vision gives him new insights.
For larger-scale paintings, they use their studio. But they then base themselves on plein-air preliminary studies and/or drawings.
The exhibition is open from Friday to Sunday between 13.30 and 16.30. The DUNAatelier can be found near the Vuurbaak on the Katwijk Boulevard. There between Boulevard and beach, it can be reached via a small road to the Strandplein, where paid parking is available.
