Page 68 - Rien Vorgers : The Essential Art of Rien Vorgers

Rien Vörgers was born in 1923 in Enschede, The
Netherlands. He studied at the local Academy of
Art before WW II, when it existed under another
name. After having finished his art studies, using

the then customary drawing techniques, Rien
began his career with theatre stage decoration.
This scene-painting aroused a life long interest
in stage-management, which he only gave up in

the early 1970’s. Between 1945-49, he traveled
through Southeast Asia with his own Netherlands
Indonesian Welfare Artist theatre. Back in The
Netherlands he took up further activities as a

director of plays and musicals under his artistic
name Nick Wanders. In this period Rien also
took up consultancy towards architects in glass
treatment and color usage. It was only in the

early 1980s, that he realized full-time painting. It
was then that he first created his own renovating
“mosaic” style, which goes one step further than
Mondriaan’s work half a century earlier.

His meditative way of creating resembles that
of De Kooning’s, who also dared to deviate from
the then current fashion in abstract painting.
Vörgers goes back, in his color treatment, to of the City of Florence, Italy was granted to Rien at

Sisley’s pointillism and though Picabia was the the 5th Biennial of International Contemporary Art,
first modern painter using “transparency”, he did where he showed a set of five acrylic paintings on
not get rid of lines and contours like Rien does. canvas called “The Seasons” and “House”. At that
Rien’s colorful linear approach surpasses even occasion Christo also received the same in honour

Vasareli’s superior geometric painting. of his participation in this event, held in the Fortezza
In the Dutch Government’s Parliament building di Basso between 3 and 11 December 2005.
“Het Binnenhof” in The Hague, a seven months In 2009 Rien was awarded a “Diploma of Excellence
solo exhibition was organized in 2002/2003 (Honorable Award)” by the London Gallery Art

especially for 24 of Rien’s paintings. Addiction. Rien has had 14 solo shows and took
In 2005 the Lorenzo il Magnifico Career Award Medal part in over fifteen international exhibits worldwide.

Rien

VöRgeRs  gesprek (conversaTion) 1984 goUacHe 24,5 x 17,5 in. /62 x 45 cm.

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