Frans Bleiji

One of many notable reactions to Frans Bleiji’s work, referring to the use of trompe l’oeil.

While using the techniques of chiaroscuro and, especially, trompe l’oeil, Frans succeeds in breathtakingly capturing the essence of the subject and the underlying thoughts. But this is not an artist who likes to tie himself down to one particular way of working, although his approach should always contain an aspect of realism. Whatever course he chooses to pursue, realism will always be part of the new route.

For example, his recent work is a fusion of “work after Mondriaan” and realism, in a series of works he would like to call “hand in hand”. Frans is a self-taught artist who, after studying at the Koninklijke Academie (Royal Art Academie) in The Hague for more than a year, decided to teach himself everything he needed to know as he felt that the route followed at the academy was not his.