Still Life with Bottles

About this work

When Henk Helmantel set up his studio in the vicarage in Westeremden in the mid-’70s, he found his definitive style: the characteristic Helmantels for which he would become known. Since then, as Henk remarked in an interview in Trouw, everything has remained more or less the same, apart from a few small leaps forward. The perfect north light in the studio was also an important step forward. The still life with bottles dates from this period. The reflections in the glass are characteristic of Henk’s work. The only difference from his later works is that his success enabled him to buy and paint glassware of the highest quality. Yet it is precisely these objects that reveal the simplicity and the everyday that Helmantel has sought throughout his life.