The work of Amsterdam-based artist Cathalijn Wouters defies easy reading. Eschewing traditional assumptions around the boundaries between painting and drawing, her fields of color and lithe linework coalesce into something that echoes 20th-century Modernism but conveys a decidedly contemporary atmosphere. Despite incorporating elements of both figuration and total abstraction, her work retains an overall compositional clarity, in no small part due to her background in graphic design and illustration.

Recently joining the roster of SmithDavidson Gallery, Wouters’s work reflects the gallery’s ethos centered on artists who maintain a practice that expand understandings of visual art. Following the announcement, we reached out to the artist to learn more about her evolution as an artist, and what she sees as her most potent sources of inspiration.

Cathalijn Wouters (2019). Photo: Bas Losekoot. Courtesy of SmithDavidson Gallery.

Can you tell us a bit about your background and development as an artist? Have you always worked predominantly in painting?

I graduated in 1980 as a graphic designer from Sint Joost in Breda, which at the time had a very strong graphic department. With the typographer Chris Brand, I was trained not only to appreciate form, but also the tension of the space surrounding it. That shaped my vision and deepened my sense of composition. My real wish had always been to study painting, but that choice was not supported at home, so I followed a renowned graphic design course instead.

Painting, precisely because it did not come as easily, became more urgent. The decisive turning point came when I saw “La Grande Parade” (1984–85) at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. The work of artists such as Georg Baselitz, A.R. Penck, and Pablo Picasso made something unmistakably clear to me: I wanted to become a painter. In the first decades of my practice, I worked in a remarkably versatile way, trying out various directions before a recognizable oeuvre began to emerge. That gradual process of searching and refining has been essential to the development of my work.

Cathalijn Wouters, Solstice (2023). Courtesy of SmithDavidson Gallery.

What does your process look like? Do you work out your ideas directly on the canvas or do you begin with sketches, photographs, or other reference points?

My process begins with a strong need to create. Because my desire to paint was so persistent, yet I was often dissatisfied with the results, I eventually removed the easels from my studio and began treating linen more like paper. That shift gave me freedom. Cutting, arranging, and working more directly with the surface brought a greater sense of play and openness into the process. A stretched canvas had begun to feel too fixed, too resolved in advance. Drawings and sketches usually form the starting point. They allow me to test direction, balance, and tension before a painting fully emerges. Literature also matters greatly to me. Writers such as Marcel Proust and Jonathan Franzen have influenced me in the way they uncover the human psyche, layer by layer, without forcing clarity too soon. That kind of depth is something I search for in my work as well.

Where do you most commonly look to or find inspiration? Are there any other artists or movements—historic or contemporary—that you are most influenced by?

For me, inspiration starts with whatever leaves a lasting impression. When I was young, I spent a great deal of time in Paris, where I felt at home in the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay. In Vienna, I was deeply affected by the work of Egon Schiele. I am moved by a work before I begin to think about how it is made. The gestural element speaks to me most strongly. It’s this certain type of work in which the physical presence of the artist remains visible. I continue to return to the moderns and to postwar painting; they remain a vital source. At the same time, I stay alert to contemporary artists who genuinely shift something in me. Recently, I had that experience with Dana Schutz at Art Basel. In her work I sense an affinity with Baselitz, but also a language entirely her own. Those kinds of encounters are energizing to me.

Cathalijn Wouters, From the very beginning (2020). Courtesy of SmithDavidson Gallery.

There is a strong dialogue between painting and drawing reflected in your use of figuration, from the perspective of your practice, how would you describe the relationship between the two genres?

For a long time, I kept drawing and painting separate because they felt fundamentally different to me. Drawing was more immediate, more instinctive; painting asked for another kind of commitment. Through collage, I gradually brought drawing back into painting, and the distance between the two began to narrow. What once felt like separate disciplines slowly started to overlap. My work was sometimes compared to Henri Matisse, perhaps because of the black line, but I experience my own hand as more contrary, more stubborn. Over time, drawing and painting have folded more naturally into one another. Now that exchange happens almost of its own accord, at the point where I stop defining the distinction and simply follow the work. That is where the line becomes painterly, and painting keeps the directness of drawing.

What role (if any) does the viewer play in your work? Do you have a preconceived aim or hope for the viewer experience?

I never begin a work with a preconceived idea of what the viewer should feel, nor do I work from the question of how it will be received. That plays no role in the creation. At the same time, there are works in which the viewer’s position enters the image more explicitly. In The Love Affair (2020), for instance, you see a figure in the background, watching a scene unfold. While working on it, I thought of a cinema: everyone is watching the same screen, yet each person is undergoing a different experience. That intrigued me. It adds another layer to the painting, because the viewer can in some sense inhabit the position of that figure. I do not want to direct that experience too tightly. What matters to me is precisely that open space between the work and the person standing before it.

Cathalijn Wouters, The Love Affair (2020). Courtesy of SmithDavidson Gallery.

Can you tell us about the recent developments and collaboration with SmithDavidson?

The collaboration with SmithDavidson is still quite recent, but it has already developed in a very positive direction. What appeals to me most is their international reach and the conviction with which they represent their artists. They think ambitiously, yet with care, and that suits the stage my oeuvre is entering. In a relatively short time, the collaboration has led to important developments: fair presentations, new conversations, and a broader visibility for my work. For me, the value of this collaboration lies in the possibility of letting the work resonate internationally while remaining true to its own development.

What are you working on now, or are planning to work on next?

My attention is increasingly returning to painting itself. I find that I can now give the work more time, concentration, and trust than before, while also gaining greater command of the techniques I want to use. That, in turn, brings a new kind of freedom: I no longer try to force the painting so much as follow it. This shift has become essential to me. It changes the energy in the studio, and I can feel that change directly in the work. What is emerging now feels self-propelling: the more room I give a painting, the more clearly it begins to define its own terms. That makes this period both intense and productive, and gives me the sense that the work is becoming more distilled, more individual, and more fully itself.

Explore the work of Cathalijn Wouters with SmithDavidson Gallery here.