Renie Spoelstra’s haunting charcoal landscapes take top honours in Paris, affirming a renewed appetite for slow, time?intensive art.
Born in 1974 in Drachten, the Netherlands, Renie Spoelstra is known for monumental charcoal drawings that suspend time in a kind of charged stillness. For her, landscapes capture those moments when “before and after” are held together in silence. Her demanding drawing practice always begins with a journey, taking her to coasts, lakes, forests and other remote sites across North America, Europe and more recently Peru, where she searches for settings that evoke existential sensations.
“My process is quite slow and involves long walks in nature, because I can take time on my own to think, especially during periods of hardships,”
explains Renie.
“Emotions are free to come out while I document the scenery around me, taking photos or filming short videos,”
The artwork comes to life when Renie returns to the atelier, after she has selected an image from the camera roll that best embodies how she felt at that moment. She then embarks on a journey to both replicate the image and slowly transform it into a state of mind. “The pencil strokes and erasures ultimately speak about life and loss,” Renie says. It can take several months to finish a work and she will only start a new piece once she feels the current one is finished.
The prize, now in its 19th year, comes with a 15,000 euros cheque, as well as the acquisition of one of her works for the Centre Pompidou. While it is not the first time Florence and Daniel Guerlain, the founders of the eponymous accolade, have supported Spoelstra’s work, the prize brings the support of an institution that will most likely have repercussions in the commercial world. “Entering a prestigious institution can surely help boost a career. While we collect with our heart, we are hopeful that others will discover and come to love these artists too!” concedes Daniel Guerlain. Spoelstra will also have the opportunity to set up a solo show at the Drawing Lab, an exhibition space located below the Drawing Hotel, a luxury 5-star establishment filled with artworks which stands a few minutes walk from the Louvre.
A quick glance at this year’s runner-ups, Simon Schubert and Cathryn Boch, displayed alongside Spoelstra’s emotional landscapes inside the Palais Brongniart, shows how far one can stretch the definition of the medium. While they differ in subject matter and technique, the seemingly delicate works all demanded labor-intensive, physical engagement. Schubert’s pliages and architectural spaces evoke the barely-visible, while Boch uses the paper as a raw material, painstakingly sewn and torn.
“While we do not typically have a theme for the prize, we tend to select artists who will work well together once in the booth” concedes Daniel Guerlain. Has the difficult climate world-wide affected the attraction for more inward looking pieces? “Most likely, yes!”, jokes Daniel.
Since the creation of their Art Foundation in 1996, the couple of art collectors and philanthropists has been roaming the world in search of the finest works, perusing art galleries during international art fairs orad hoc trips to far-flung places. Their dedication has helped redefine how drawing is seen and valued in France and beyond: where collectors once viewed the medium mainly as preparatory or as works on paper adjuncts to painting or sculpture, the prize has helped shift the conversation toward drawing as a research?based, experimental and often highly conceptual practice.
SALON DU DESSIN 2026, Palais Brogniart @salondudessin
