Marinus Fuit – Farewell Exhibition

Tower blocks, staircases, a tram, a bollard: the world of Marinus Fuit is filled with recognisable forms, yet feels distant and still. His paintings are built from elements drawn from reality, but the atmosphere evokes suburban dormitory districts rather than bustling city streets. Austere compositions, clear colours and meticulous execution give his work an almost architectural quality. Horizon and perspective play a central role, suggesting space that extends far beyond the canvas.

How Marinus Fuit found his visual language

His breakthrough came in 1964, when he spotted basketball players from a train window, moving in front of a tower block near Haarlem. Living people against a static mass of stone: for Fuit, that was the moment his subject matter revealed itself. That first major work laid the foundation for decades of painting. Over time, people vanished from his compositions entirely. This was deliberate: he sees the individual as subordinate to the whole, to the structure that governs the image.

War and absurd everyday life as early inspiration

The Second World War left a deep impression on the young Fuit. Bombers passing overhead on a summer's day, interrupted by an ice cream seller trying to do business in village life: he describes this himself as an absurd reality. That tension between the mundane and the ominous lingers in his later work too.

Farewell exhibition at Pulchri Studio, The Hague

This exhibition marks the close of a long and consistent artistic career. In the Weissenbruchzaal at Pulchri Studio, works from the Frans Hals Museum and private collections come together in one place. It is a rare opportunity to see Fuit's oeuvre as a whole.