Hans Bayens

Museum Beelden aan Zee pays tribute to Hans Bayens (1924-2003) on the occasion of his hundredth birth year. The Dutch artist is known as ‘the sculptor of Dutch literature’, but his oeuvre extends beyond literary portraits. Bayens excelled in depicting a wide range of subjects in terracotta, plaster, and bronze. Think of children, the painter and his model, and circus scenes. But also more everyday scenes such as a hospital visit, a cafeteria, or a waiting room.

Large works in public spaces are also widely loved by a large audience, such as the statues of Multatuli, Theo Thijssen, and Herman Gorter. By observing closely, Bayens liked to immerse himself in his subjects for a long time. He almost always made his preliminary studies directly in clay or wax. He said about this: “What matters to me is to make the human visible. There are such depths in humans, showing that through art is important to me, art that shows how grandiose a human can be, or how horrible, that elevates the human, offers a mirror.” Bayens was a typical double talent because he was also an extraordinarily gifted impressionist painter and draftsman. With equal ease, he switched between both disciplines in his characteristic lively style.

Curator: Joost Bergman