DICK KET
1902 Den Helder – 1940 Bennekom
STILL LIFE WITH A WHITE PITCHER (small)
oil on canvas, 55 x 46 cm
signed and dated lower right: D Ket / 1932
the painting is still in its original frame
provenance:
Willem Henri Boom, Beckum, acquired from the artist;
by descent, the Netherlands;
with Ivo Bouwman, The Hague;
private collection, the Netherlands;
with E.J. van Wisselingh & Co, Haarlem;
private collection, the Netherlands, acquired from the above.
exhibited:
– Amsterdam, Arti et Amicitiae, Schilderijen en beeldhouwwerken vervaardigd door leden,
Amsterdam, 1932, no 63;
– Arnhem, De Korenbeurs, Schilderijen, tekeningen, beeldhouwer A. Beeftink, Dick Ket,
Johan Mekkink, L.P.J. Braat, 1935;
– Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Universiteits-Lustrum, Zomertentoonstelling, 1937, no. 41;
– The Hague, Gemeentemusem, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Arnhem, Gemeente
Museum, Herrinneringstentoonstelling Dick Ket, 1941-42, no D;
– Arnhem, Gemeente Museum, Breda Cultureel Centrum De Beyerd, Laren Singer
Museum, Dick Ket 1902-1940, no. 60a;
– Hengelo, Hengelose Kunstzaal, Het Magisch Realisme, 1965-66, no. 31;
– Arnhem, Gemeente Museum, Het laatste stilleven, 1975-76.
literature:
Alied Ottevanger, Dick Ket over zijn leven, ideeën en kunst, cat. no. 101, ill. in color p. 77.
The table is bearing a white enameled bowl filled with water, a white pitcher, a wine bottle, loose sheets of paper, and a notebook. All elements are rendered with a conspicuously artificial perspective that immediately points to Dick Ket’s artistic identity. Although this perspectival distortion suggests that the objects could slide off the tabletop at any moment, the composition does not convey instability or movement. Instead, it produces a serene and markedly static effect. This tension between spatial dislocation and compositional calm is characteristic of Ket’s work and contributes to the painting’s contemplative quality.
Created in 1932, this still life was produced at the height of Ket’s brief artistic career and life. It belongs to a small group of still lifes that brought him recognition, most of which are now held in Dutch museum collections. Despite his short life and limited artistic output, Ket left a significant mark on Dutch art. He is considered one of the finest practitioners of the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) in the Netherlands which served as a precursor to Dutch Magic Realism. His oeuvre thus functions as a critical link between the objectivity of the first and the enigmatic realism that characterizes the latter. Unlike many German adepts of Neue Sachlichkeit, however, Ket’s work lacks overt social criticism; it is instead marked by an inward, psychological focus which has its origin in his biography determined by chronic illness and physical isolation.
fig. 1 Dick Ket, Still life with Pieta, 1932, oil on canvas, 57 x 46.5 cm, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, inv. no. A2260 Fig. 2 Dick Ket, Self-Portait, 1932, oil on canvas, 80.5 x 54 cm, Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, inv.no. 1427 MK.
The materials of the objects employed in Ket’s still lifes play a central role in his artistic practice. Glass, enamel, paper, and ceramic each possesses distinct physical properties that, when combined, create a visually varied ensemble. Through these objects, Ket demonstrates a sustained interest in the precise rendering of surface and texture. He repeatedly returned to the same materials and objects—those available in his studio—using them across multiple works. The small enameled bowl from the present work, for example, also appears prominently in the foreground of his self-portrait (fig. 2).
Inspired by the Flemish Primitives, Ket’s work reflects certain Christian visual traditions, though he was not known to be particularly religious. This still life raises the question of whether the depiction of water and wine is deliberate. Nevertheless, these objects may carry subtle Christian connotations: the wine referencing the blood of Christ and the Eucharist, the water symbolizing purification, renewal, and life. Within Ket’s carefully controlled and serene perspective, they create a tension between the mundane and the sacred, giving the composition a layered significance in which ordinary objects acquire both material presence and spiritual meaning.
Dick Ket together with his parents in front of their house in Bennekom where Ket lived and had his studio on the second floor.
Dick Ket was a Dutch painter active during the first half of the twentieth century. He was born in 1902 with a serious congenital heart defect, likely tetralogy of Fallot (blue baby syndrome), which was incurable at the time. As a result, Ket remained physically frail throughout his life and relied heavily on his parents’ support. Despite their efforts to provide him with as normal a life as possible, he was dependent on them for most of his existence. During secondary school, two teachers recognized Ket’s talent and encouraged his artistic ambitions. His drawing teacher, Johan Kerkemeijer, advised him to develop his skills in oil painting, while Henri Naber, a teacher of chemistry and physics and a convinced theosophist, influenced Ket’s thinking on the relationship between geometry and mysticism—ideas that left a lasting imprint on his worldview. From 1922 to 1925, Ket attended the art academy in Arnhem.
In the following years, chronic fatigue caused by his illness, along with growing phobias—particularly agoraphobia—led Ket to live a reclusive life with his parents in Bennekom. After 1930, he rarely left the house and died a few days before his thirty-eighth birthday. His posthumously published letters reveal a sharp sense of humor, self-irony, and a deep passion for the arts, literature, music, cinema, as well as wordplay and mystery.
Ket’s life and work were profoundly intertwined. He regarded his physical ailments as fate and saw his artistic talent as a compensatory gift, believing it was his destiny to cultivate this gift and contribute to society through meaningful art. His oeuvre is best known for still lifes and self-portraits—genres that allowed him to work entirely within his studio.
Ket’s work represents a compelling synthesis of traditional and modern elements. He drew inspiration from Old Master paintings, particularly the Flemish Primitives, while remaining attuned to contemporary art and design. Like many European artists of the 1920s and 1930s, Ket sought a new visual language through which he could render his observations in a realist mode. Unlike the Old Masters, however, he showed little interest in constructing spatial illusion; instead, his compositions are deliberately flat and distinctly modern. Similar approaches can be observed in contemporary posters and commercial design, which emphasized clarity and two-dimensionality. Ket maintained a keen interest in poster design, keeping several examples in his studio and incorporating these compositional principles into certain still-life paintings, fig. 1.