ART: Ton Schulten - Dutch painter of Consensusism

Several years ago, during holiday time, I stayed in the place Ootmarsum (NL) and spent quite some hours by looking at the colourful paintings of the Dutch artist Ton Schulten and the beautiful art they have. I can absolutely recommend you to visit this lovely Dutch village with interesting art. Below you will find more information about the painter as well as his paintings. I also wrote a another blog about guest exhibitors from the Galerie Ton Schulten. 

Passion and enchantment: the world according to Ton Schulten.

Ton Schulten, a painter from Ootmarsum in the Netherlands, has been creating his distinctive and colourful landscape mosaics since the early 1990’s. In his work you will find the zest for life and optimism.

More about Ton Schulten: a painter of consensusism

In the early nineties, Ton Schulten (born 1938) decided to start concentrating on his painting. This decision marked the end of a successful career as an advertising agent. He exchanged his hectic life as a director/owner of an advertising agency in Ootmarsum, for a life of dreaming away the days in colour and form, and recording these dreams on canvas with a merciless rhythm - as if he was making up for lost time. Ton Schulten had enough of 'playing the manager', as he calls it himself. He felt he had become alienated from the creative process that is inherent in creating advertising campaigns. In painting, he rediscovered what he had 'lost' in the advertising world. Very soon he emerged as a true colourist: he started, as it were, living with colour. He allowed the colours to direct him, even decide what he did on the canvas, and he always said that 'it was a joy to paint'. This is how Ton Schulten regained his artistic freedom and became a painter. 



The work of Ton Schulten cannot really be described in one word. It has expressionist overtones, yet is in a class of its own. This is what Ton Schulten intended right from the start: he wanted to paint in a style that had not been seen before. He builds up his compositions using broad, vertical bands of colour. Like a child playing with building bricks, the artist Ton Schulten systematically builds his mystical mosaic landscapes which, admittedly, only exist in his mind, but are always inspired by the repoussoir landscape of Twente. To him, red is the colour of warmth; green is about nature and its wonderful scents. Yellow and orange stand for joyfulness - the sun! Ton Schulten says: 'I let things happen, things that are impossible but have a fascinating effect. This makes for an ongoing new, creative process'.

Ton Schulten has now become one of the most successful artists of our time. He is best known for his mosaic landscapes. The colourful canvases were inspired by the repoussoir Twente landscape with its distinctive lateral moraines, its 'essen' - rolling raised stretches of agricultural land - and its solitary trees and clusters of shrubs.

His work, consisting of canvases, screen prints and reproductions, can be seen at 'Chez Moi Ton Schulten Galerie International' and in the Museum Ton Schulten, both in Ootmarsum. For more information please have a look at their website, see enclosed hyperlink. 

Ton Schulten, the artist

Thank you for reading this blogpost.

Source: TON SCHULTEN

Note: these pictures have been placed with approval of Ton Schulten.