05 august 2025, Flor Linckens
The unspectacular worldview of Koen Vermeule at Museum JAN
Until 5 October, Museum JAN in Amstelveen presents the exhibition 'Poetry Suite' by Koen Vermeule (BorzoGallery). The Dutch painter showcases an extensive selection of paintings and gouaches in which the everyday, unspectacular reality is filtered, stripped back and carefully reconstructed. The exhibition invites visitors to pause for a moment and reflect on the fragile beauty of the present, and on the ways in which we relate to our surroundings. Many of the works on view have never been exhibited before. 'Poetry Suite' is not a retrospective, but rather an intimate glimpse into the mind of an artist who builds, with quiet precision, a universe shaped by themes such as love, transience, longing and presence.
Vermeule’s mysterious paintings have something of a snapshot about them: fleeting impressions that reveal his fascination with human behaviour in metropolitan environments. The painter is best known for his street scenes and landscapes in which solitary figures inhabit universal tableaus: reflections of our individualistic society. The works reveal a sharp eye on the world, while they also possessing something elusive and oddly familiar.
His urban characters often seem lost in their own world, caught in a moment of pause between the demands of the day. Immersed in thought, they appear momentarily detached from time. Some have shut out the world through their headphones, others are reaching for connection through their phones. They are waiting for a train, gazing absently at a setting sun or have dozed off on a bench. The artist is drawn to the ways we move through the world, touching on themes such as globalisation and youth culture. Emotions are not shown overtly, but instead suggested in how these figures relate to their own bodies. Vermeule is intrigued by their unstudied, natural posture, but equally by the disciplined physicality of judokas, shaped by years of training and intense concentration. Alongside city scenes, Vermeule also paints expansive, often empty and artificial landscapes in which silence plays a central role.
Most works start off with a quick photograph: a moment that catches his eye, captured while travelling or simply en route. What follows is a slow, focused process of observation, selection and construction. The compositions that emerge are then translated to paper and canvas, in a style that is immediately recognisable and often subtly indebted to art history, referencing figures such as Georges Seurat, Léon Spilliaert, Oskar Schlemmer and Oscar Muñoz. Vermeule frequently employs dramatic lighting contrasts, transforming his subjects into anonymous silhouettes.
Vermeule: “My paintings are not narrative in character. I look at the world with a photographic gaze. I ‘catch’ fleeting, everyday reality and hold it for a moment. I want to expose the mystery within the mundane. The works are reflections on the present, on rapid technological developments and the social behaviours that accompany them. My paintings always emerge from proximity; often it’s a fleeting urban or natural scene that draws my attention. I recognise the moment’s potential, isolate what I saw and manipulate it. Snapshots that show the possibility of what a painting could become. A first crop, a first filter of light. Still full of noise, too many details. I search for and paint the strongest possible image. Images that stay imprinted on the retina, but whose meanings remain open, enigmatic.”
The exhibition comes to life through Vermeule’s personal playlist: a mix of around twenty tracks that immerse the viewer in the atmosphere of his paintings and gouaches. For 'Poetry Suite', the artist selected excerpts from Gabriels, Little Simz, Talking Heads and Lee Scratch Perry to evoke a theatrical tone. The full playlist can be accessed by scanning a QR code.
Tip: on Saturday 6 September at 15:00, Vermeule will provide a (Dutch) guided tour of the exhibition, followed by a signing session of his book 'Fensterbilder'. Entry is free with a Museumkaart or a valid ticket. Only 25 places are available, so make sure to secure your spot.
Koen Vermeule was born in Goes in 1965 and studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. His work has previously been exhibited at the Rijksmuseum, BOZAR, the Stedelijk Museum, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, the Kunsthal, the Noordbrabants Museum, Singer Laren, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam and Rijksmuseum Twenthe. His work has been included in the collections of the Rijksmuseum, Museum Voorlinden, the Centraal Museum, the Fries Museum, the Teylers Museum, the Ministry of the Interior, Rabobank and the AkzoNobel Art Foundation. In 2017, he was awarded the Sacha Tanja Penning for his entire body of work.
