The paintings of Mado Schoolmeesters (b. 1930, Brussels) range from figurative to almost abstract. One distinctive feature is the broad brushstrokes. Initially, she described her work as having a ‘Flemish palette’: lots of black, white and muted shades, in other words. Having trained as an artist in Belgium, Schoolmeesters moved to the Netherlands in the 1950s, where she gradually introduced more colour into her work.
She lived and worked in Breda for 30 years, together with her husband Janus Nuiten, who is also an artist. Inondations (Floods), featuring the contours of a marshy landscape full of tree stumps, is an example of her work from this period. Schoolmeesters also painted lots of harbour views and townscapes.
The museum’s collection contains more work by Nuiten than by Schoolmeesters, which is curious, since the quality of her work certainly equals that of her husband’s. High time, therefore, that we shone the spotlight on Schoolmeesters.
Mado Schoolmeesters, Inondations (1966) | Floods | Painting, oil on linen | object number: G02120