Works on Paper

More than 17 years after her death, Ilse D'Hollander's oeuvre is still internationally appreciated and frequently exhibited. Works in gouache on paper and oils on canvas stand central within D'Hollander's oeuvre. Given the technique and the smaller format, the works on paper have their own character and a specific intensity, more intimate, more demarcated and concentrated. On paper, a tension is created between the apparent calmness of line and the nuanced use of colour on the one hand, and the unrest inherent to the capricious, irregular division of planes on the other. Order and regularity go hand in hand with doubt and movement. Ilse D'Hollander plays a game of hide and seek. The process of painting leaves its traces. The artist's brushstrokes and finger sweeps remain clearly visible in the paint, and so make the work at once tangible and personal.