 (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 

 (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 

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 of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; 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.

Raoul De Keyser, 2009. Photo by Christophe Vander Eecken

Friends in a Field: Conversations with Raoul De Keyser

Texts by Douglas Fogle, Hanneke Skerath, and Ilse Roosens

A dialogue of sensibility and attention: artists from Forrest Bess to Amy Sillman juxtaposed with the delicate paintings of Raoul De Keyser

Over the course of his nearly five-decade career, Belgian artist Raoul De Keyser created paintings that bridge the mysteries of the everyday and the intangible world of abstraction. 

 takes the artist’s radical painterly practice as the beginning of a conversation with a diverse group of artists—both living and dead—whose works share a sensibility and attentiveness to the fragile intangibility of the world. In their paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, these artists join De Keyser in presenting the world back to us as a kind of abstract visual poetry. 

 presents works by Richard Aldrich, Forrest Bess, Matt Connors, René Daniëls, Raoul De Keyser, Vincent Fecteau, Maysha Mohamedi, Rebecca Morris, Betty Parsons, Amy Sillman, Ricky Swallow, Patricia Treib, Luc Tuymans, and Lesley Vance.

Friends in a Field: Conversations with Raoul de Keyser

Friends in a Field | Books

David Zwirner is an art gallery with locations in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Hong Kong. We present physical and online exhibitions, podcasts, books, and more.