Ingrid Smuling is a virtuoso in painting realistic still life with nostalgic objects, often in combination with flowers or fruits. Her paintings are influenced by their classical appearance and unmistakable atmosphere. Rest, harmony and an outstanding attention to detail feature the works of this Dutch painter. From 2 July, you can enjoy La Fine Fleur at the Wildevuur gallery: an overview of the newest works by Ingrid Smuling.

Fascination for the ordinary
Ingrid Smuling (1944) graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague, where she still lives and paints. After completing her studies, she became increasingly interested in the art of fine painting, a technique that she has now managed to perfection. Her favorite subjects are often everyday things: a pottery jar, a geranium branch, or a bowl of mandarins. The classic simplicity that features Ingrid Smuling's paintings is also reflected in the names of her works. No pervasive names, but titles like Blue flowers, Yellow apple branch or Quilted kimono jacket with mandarins, say it already: ‘What your see is what you get’. And it is precisely this simplicity, combined with the highly sophisticated technique and harmonious compositions that make her paintings so popular with a wide art audience.


Painting in a painting
Ingrid Smuling knows like no-one else to create what people are looking forward to. The plants and objects she paints are lovingly arranged, giving a particularly harmonious whole. With a subtle game of light, shadow and color, Ingrid Smuling puts reality into her hand. A regular recurring motif is the phenomenon of 'paintings in a painting': portraits that are in turn processed into a still life. This can be a picture of a Renaissance girl who looks dreamy from a shelf, but modern images are also part of the atmospheric compositions. Examples include The chocolate can and Ode to Piet, works included in the exhibition at the gallery Wildevuur.

Simplicity never bores
Also, after repeated viewing, Ingrid Smuling's paintings remain captivated: your eye is always on a new detail. Because the still lifes shine out harmony and love for the pictured, they add something that humanity needs in our busy times: keep an eye on the beauty of ordinary, everyday. With her realistic still life’s, Ingrid Smuling creates tremendous moments of carefully observed objects, combined with natural elements in the form of branches, small bouquets or fruits. The effect looks like a window after a time out of time: a place for which we are not bound for the momentum of the hilarious life of our everyday existence.
 

More about the paintings by Ingrid Smuling can be found on the website of Ingrid Smuling.  Through our Webshop you can also order the book ‘Still lifes’. This is a catalog with pictures of Ingrid Smuling's paintings with accompanying texts, plus a biography.