Kunstner i fokus

Robert-Jan Poorter's paintings of melancholy and play

27. august 2026

Robert-Jan Poorter's path to the canvas is anything but straightforward. After years as a professional tennis player, time in prison, and work as a jazz musician, the Munich artist now creates minimalist paintings in oil that sit somewhere between childhood innocence and adult disillusionment. His works often center on everyday objects—ice cream, popsicles—rendered in soft pastels and spare compositions that feel both playful and tinged with melancholy. There's nothing certain about what Poorter offers viewers; instead, his paintings invite us into a space where the familiar becomes surreal, where simple pleasures carry the weight of lived experience.