Arie Smit (Zaandam, The Netherlands, 1916 - Denpasar, Bali, 2016) Three Girls Passing The Temple

Arie Smit only decided to become a full time painter in 1956, when he came to Bali upon the invitation of painter Rudolf Bonnet and art connoisseur and dealerJames Pandy. Although the trip to Bali was supposed to be a relatively brief visit, the painter decided to stay on the island, apparently for good, as he remained there for almost sixty years until he passed away in 2016. “Living in Bali, I developed an understanding about rural life, especially community-life and the culture of Bali offered a deep source of inspiration,” he explained. Once in Bali he clearly gradually abandoned the careful and delicate delineation of lines in his earlier works, rendering expressively and no longer focusing on representational depiction. Arie’s painting began to be more expressionistic, devoting more attention to his use of light and color. From his very first year in Bali, Arie had already started to embark on a new stylistic journey. something that he continued to shape and reshape throughout his life. The painting, Three Girls Passing the Temple, shows the artist’s style of the time, still showing the distinct lines and dots of color that he developed in the 1990s.
Medium: acrylics on canvas
Size: 29 x 42 cm
Signature: "signed and dated (lower left):”Arie Smit ‘03” Inscribed on verso “Three Girls Passing the Temple” signed and dated “Arie Smit, Bali 2003”"