Who is Henri Bol?

Henri Cornelis Bol (10 January 1945 – 10 July 2000) was a Dutch yet life painter, whose show was known for its realism and trompe-l’œil technique.

Bol was born and raised in Eindhoven as the eldest son of painter Kees Bol. As a youthful adult Bol studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven (1960-1964), where his daddy was a teacher, and for several years, he attended the Graphic School in Venlo.

In September 1966, he met Gerrie Klinkenberg, eldest daughter of a police inspector. They married in April 1968. In the autumn of 1967 he applied successfully for a job as a creative therapist at the mental hospital Huize Padua in Boekel. The relations lived in Handel. In 1972 the “Blaauw Laaken” was acquired in the old fortified town of Heusden.

During a visit in the late sixties to the Museum Arnhem, Bol became impressed by Dutch painters Raoul Hynckes, Dick Ket, Pyke Koch and Carel Willink. It inspired him to seriously focus upon painting. Soon Bol was unchangeable the opportunity to exhibit his work. With fellow artists, he showed his paintings at Gemert Castle and at the Old Mill in Thorn. In 1973 Bol exhibited his be in at the Town Hall of Hilvarenbeek.

An covetous collector, he acquired antiques taking into consideration furniture, tin, enamel, watches, musical instruments, glassware, china and books. Historical objects which served only one purpose, namely to suit as subjects in his nevertheless lifes.

In the late 1970s Bol exhibited in the Old Town Hall of Beek en Donk and at the Philips Leisure Centre in Eindhoven. Subsequently, he showed his operate at Smelink & Stokkink in The Hague, Gallery Mokum in Amsterdam and Gallery Gogol in Düsseldorf, Germany. In 1988 his wife Gerrie Bol-Klinkenberg launched her own Art Gallery “Blaauw Laaken” where Bol exhibited his paintings with great success until he died in 2000.

In the mid 1990s RTL Nederland aired ‘Toppers’, presented by Willibrord Frequin. Central in one episode was Frits Philips, of the Philips Electronics. Bol featured in this program because he was working on a nevertheless life, commissioned in award of the 90th anniversary of the industrialist.

In 2002, on the occasion of the pronouncement of a monograph on his work, an exhibition was organized at the Museum Kempenland in Eindhoven, titled “Sophisticated and timeless, still lifes by Henri Bol (1945-2000)”.