Skip navigation
Tickets
Tickets
Tickets

Jan van der Kooi – Tomorrow I will make my best work

  • 28 November 2026 till 4 April 2027
  • Drents Museum

Drawing tigers. That is all Jan van der Kooi (b. 1957) wants to do every day at the moment. But tomorrow morning, when the light streams through his studio window or the Frisian landscape calls, things may be different. Inspiration for a new work is always waiting to be captured. Van der Kooi’s distinctive and inspiring approach to the world is reflected in both his drawing and painting techniques.

'Predictability is fatal to the imagination'

There is hardly a subject that Van der Kooi will not take on. Celebrating his seventieth birthday during the exhibition, he continues to be driven by a desire to create, explore and delve deeper. ‘Predictability is fatal to the imagination,’ he says. As a viewer, you will recognise the lightness of Van der Kooi’s palette, in which space, light and colour play a central role. In his drawings, fine, delicate lines of pencil and chalk touch the paper. The exhibition presents the full breadth of Van der Kooi’s work: landscapes at home and abroad, studies of animals, still lifes, interiors, nudes and (self-)portraits.

Technique and tradition

For more than fifty years, Van der Kooi has been capturing the world around him. He studies his subjects in depth, from the anatomy of animals and human beings to the polder landscapes of the Netherlands and sun-drenched cityscapes in southern Europe. Van der Kooi draws on long-established artistic traditions, methods and techniques. He works alternately in oil on panel, in ink washes on paper, or in one of his many sketchbooks.

The exhibition is accompanied by the catalogue Jan van der Kooi – Tomorrow I will make my best work. The book presents a rich and carefully curated selection of paintings and drawings, featuring texts by the artist himself and an essay by Suzanne Rus, curator at the Drents Museum. Published in collaboration with Waanders Publishers, the catalogue will be available from 28 November for €27.50 from the Museum Shop and via the Drents Museum webshop.