DM De Buitenplaats installs mural based on original work by Matthijs Röling
Drents Museum De Buitenplaats has installed a mural based on original work by Matthijs Röling in Brasserie Röling. Röling began the mural in the late 1990s but never completed it. Earlier this year, the Drents Museum asked artist Anouk Martijn to recreate the mural.
About Matthijs Röling
Matthijs Röling (1943–2024) was the leading figure of the Northern Figuratives. In the 1980s, he created interior paintings in the 17th-century Nijsinghhuis. Röling painted the ceiling of the entrance hall, known as the Blue Room, followed by the library and later also the walls of the entrance hall.
When Jos and Janneke van Groeningen, former owners and residents of the Nijsinghhuis, founded Museum De Buitenplaats in the early 1990s to house their collection of figurative art, they invited Röling to create a mural in the museum café. However, this work was never completed and was eventually lost.
About the Work by Anouk Martijn
In his final year as general director of Drents Museum De Buitenplaats, Harry Tupan asked Röling’s former student and later colleague Anouk Martijn to recreate the mural using her memories and old photographs. It became a journey through time and a personal tribute to Röling’s work and character.
Anouk Martijn: 'While working on this mural, I could hear Thijs explaining again: that every line should be exciting, and that anything is allowed to achieve the desired effect. For example, removing paint layers with scouring pads. How you can mask out fiercely scrubbed and splattered paint with precision. And most importantly, how you must always give chance an opportunity. I stumbled upon things—by chance—that were connected to his stories and that era. The work thus became a collage of quotes and memories of my former ‘master’ and dear friend, who lived in and still lives through his paintings.'
The work is not yet finished
Martijn began the mural in her own studio. Now that it has been installed in the brasserie, she is putting the final touches on it. Martijn: 'I’m still working on it when the museum is closed, but this way, visitors can witness the process as it unfolds. If you come back later, you’ll notice something new has been added, and new details emerge.'