Raoul De Keyser

Raoul De Keyser (1930–2012) is known for his sophisticated and tempered paintings that subtly and evocatively explore the relationship between color and form. Made up of simple shapes and painterly marks, his works allude to the natural world and representational imagery, while avoiding suggestions of narrative or reductive frameworks that limit experience and interpretation. Despite—or precisely because of—their spare compositions, De Keyser’s works convey a visual intensity that inspires prolonged contemplation, mirroring the artist’s own sustained, reflective process.

De Keyser was born in Deinze, Belgium. His work has been represented by David Zwirner since 1999. Previous solo exhibitions of the artist’s work at the gallery’s New York location include Come on, play it again (2001); Remnants (2003); Recent Work (2006); Terminus: Drawings (1979-1982) and Recent Paintings (2009); Freedom (2011); and Drift (2016), which was first on view at David Zwirner, London. An exhibition of De Keyser’s work at the gallery's Hong Kong location in 2021 marked the artist's first solo presentation in Greater China, and David Zwirner, Hong Kong, presented Raoul De Keyser: Replay Again, in 2022. Raoul De Keyser: Touch Game, an expansive exhibition of the artist's oeuvre curated by Helen Molesworth, will be on view at the gallery's 19th Street location in New York in early 2025.

Since the mid-1960s, the artist’s work has been the subject of several solo exhibitions at prominent institutions. In 2000, a large-scale retrospective was presented at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, which traveled to the Goldie Paley Gallery, Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, and The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago. A major survey of the artist’s paintings traveled extensively from 2004 through 2005 to the Whitechapel Gallery, London; Musée de Rochechouart, France; De Pont Museum, Tilburg, The Netherlands; Museu de Serralves, Porto, Portugal; and Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland. In 2009, his paintings were exhibited in a retrospective at the Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany, and his watercolors were presented jointly at the Museu de Serralves, Porto, Portugal, and the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin.

Other venues that have hosted important solo exhibitions of De Keyser’s work include the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent (2001); Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium (2002); Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek, Deinze, Belgium (2007 and 2013); Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France (2008); De Loketten, Flemish Parliament, Brussels (2011); the Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2015); and Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek, Deinze, Belgium (2017). From 2018 to 2019, a major retrospective of the artist’s work opened at the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.) in Ghent and traveled to Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich. In 2018, Cultuurcentrum Strombeek Grimbergen, Belgium, presented Raoul De Keyser: In Print. Zeefdrukken, Lithografieën, Linosneden, Etsen.

Work by the artist has been featured in countless group exhibitions worldwide, including Documenta IX in Kassel, Germany, in 1992, and the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007.

The artist’s work is held in permanent collections worldwide, including the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Belgium; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent.