Willink, Karel

Wilink was born in 1900 in Amsterdam, the eldest of two sons, parents - Jan Willink and Vilhelmina Altes. His father was a car salesman as well as an amateur artist. Under his influence, Karel Willink also became interested in painting and at the age of 14 wrote the first picture. In 1918 - 1919, he studied medicine, then for a year, architecture at the Delft Higher Technical School . Not satisfied with any of these courses, he decided to become a free artist. Since at that time Germany was experiencing the flourishing of modern art, Wilink tried to enroll at the art academy in Düsseldorf , but was not accepted. He studied for several weeks at the State High School in Berlin , then for three years at the International Free Academy of Hans Balushek. Willink did not receive a diploma of higher education.

While studying at the academy, Karel Willink experimented with various styles. At first he was fascinated by the art of van Gogh and performed several works in his manner. He then turned to expressionist George Gross and Otto Dix , Kurt Schwitters collages, then the works of the late Kandinsky and constructivism . In 1923, with abstract works, he participated in the exhibition of the group “ Novembergruppe ”, his works were praised by critics.

After returning to the Netherlands in 1923, Wilink wrote in the manner of cubism and entered the avant-garde art group “De Driehoek” (“Triangle”), then began to introduce figurative elements into cubistic works in a manner reminiscent of Fernand Leger . In 1926, he visited Paris , where he was deeply impressed by the works of Picasso . After 1931, Vilink's creative work turned to realism . This is due to the fact that at this time he begins to think about his future and comes to the conclusion that his works will be the only thing that will remain to humanity from him after death. Since he regarded modern styles as transient, Wilink decides to finish the experiments and move on to traditional realistic painting. In 1931, he traveled to Italy, where he became acquainted with the architecture of the classical period and the Renaissance, as well as with the works of Giorgio de Chirico , architectural landscapes with long shadows that filled the desert spaces. Upon his return from Italy, he immediately began work on new works depicting ancient ruins in an imaginary landscape.

Villinka's new style fits well with the magical realism that spread in the Netherlands in the 1930s, and in the eyes of the critics he became the main representative of the movement. Willink became one of the most successful among the Dutch artists of his generation, and in 1935 was able to open an atelier in the center of Amsterdam. During the German occupation of the Netherlands, Wilink's painting was recognized as "Aryan", and he could continue to engage in it, but refused to sell paintings to the Germans. For earnings, he turned to the portrait genre. The portraits of Vilinka, made in the same style of magical realism, with fully worked out details, quickly gained popularity, and until the end of his life Karel Willink was the most famous, most popular and most expensive portrait painter of the Netherlands.

After the war, the spotlight shifted from magical realism to abstract expressionism, in the Netherlands represented by the COBRA movement. In his book “De schilderkunst in een kritiek stadium” (1950), Villink sharply opposed experimental art and remained faithful to the traditional technique of painting until the end of his life. However, in the framework of the same technology, he experimented with new themes. Between 1950 and 1965, he performed a series of large canvases representing exotic animals, such as giraffes or turtles, in unusual landscapes. In addition, he painted landscapes in which ancient ruins coexisted with industrial enterprises or even with an atomic explosion. In 1961, he visited the Italian Bomarzo , and images from the Garden of Monsters appeared in his late works.

In the 1970s, he painted landscapes with low dark clouds and strange sunlight coming out of them. In 1980, a large exhibition of the works of Wilink was held at the Stedeleyk Museum in Amsterdam , timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the artist. Willink died in 1983 , shortly after the publication of his authorized autobiography, Willinks Waarheid (True Willinka), and was buried in Zorgvlid cemetery in Amsterdam. The tombstone is made his widow.

Karel Willink was married four times, portraits of all his wives, both dressed and naked, remained in large numbers. At the first of these, Mies van der Meulen ( niderl. Mies van der Meulen , 1900-1988), he married in 1927 , but in 1928 she went to the writer Raina Bladere. In 1930, Wilink married Wilma Yeuken ( niderl. Wilma Jeuken , 1905-1960) and lived with her until her death from heart disease. In 1969, he married Matilde de Dulder ( niderl. Mathilde de Doelder , 1938-1977), 39 years younger than him. Matilda was an undergraduate student who, through Wilink's protection, received a job as a flight attendant at KLM , and later led a high life at the expense of her husband. Their relationship quickly deteriorated, as they obviously did not fit together. After a chain of incidents, when Matilda, for example, cut Wilink's two paintings with a kitchen knife, she filed for divorce, and in 1977 committed suicide. Willink did not attend her funeral. The last wife of the artist was the sculptor Sylvia Quiel ( niderl. Sylvia Quiël , 1944).

Joseph Brodsky , although in his life he was not acquainted with Karel Willink, met his work in 1991 , when Sylvia Kviel-Willink completed and opened the bust of Brodsky himself in Amsterdam. Brodsky wrote a poem "At the exhibition of Carl Willinka", and also made a speech about Willinka on the occasion of the opening of the bust.

In 2000 , the centenary of the artist’s birth, in Amsterdam, near his studio, a monument to the artist was made by his widow, Sylvia Quiel-Willink, and the alley on which he stands was named after the artist, the niderl. Carel Willinkplantsoen .

• The official site of Karel Willinka
• Galeries.nl

• AC Willink, De schilderkunst in een kritiek stadium (1950; reprinted 1981)
• Jouke Mulder, Willinks waarheid (1983)
• HLC Jaffé, Willink (1980)
• Sylvia Willink and PF Thomése, Carel Willink; zelfportret en architectuur (2000)