Adelheid de Witte is an autodidact, painting behind closed doors for five years before beginning to show her paintings in exhibitions in recent years. Representation proving too restrictive, her works have become progressively more abstract as her practice has developed. De Witte’s works on canvas, combining atmospheric explorations of light and shadow with calligraphic lines in bursts of colour, will be shown for the first time by Cadogan in April 2023. 

Her abstract landscapes delegate figuration to the background. With elements that vaguely recall real objects or phenomena in the natural world, she pushed the boundaries of the two-dimensional space provided by the canvas further away. The landscape evoked by her cloud-like structures and mysterious planes, fades out and eventually evaporates. It is left to the viewer to project their own notions of landscape onto the incidence of light represented. 

Adelheid De Witte’s way of working is characterised by an intuitive process, a quest in which the artist allows herself to be surprised by the rawness of her materials, the emptiness and an unpredictable jumble of movements. De Witte works layer by layer, with alternating dark and light paint applied, scratched, rubbed and reapplied. Line figures are imposed on top of this base, applied in one movement using different materials, from pastel and chalk to crayon and charcoal. Bright colours frame muted landscapes or flash in and out of the paintings. The result is intriguing but also melancholy, drawing the viewer in. 

De Witte has exhibited regularly in Europe, in particular in her home-country of Belgium including regular solo shows since she began exhibiting in 2014. Her show with Cadogan will be her first solo show in London. 

 About the Artist 

Adelheid de Witte is a self taught artist. Taking inspiration from her time living and working in Barcelona, her works have been exhibited regularly across Europe and her works are held in numerous private collections. 

About the Gallery 

Cadogan is an independent contemporary art gallery with spaces in London, Hampshire and Milan. For over forty years our mission has been to represent, support and curate the work of a diverse roster of emerging and mid-career artists. Since joining the gallery in 2014, Freddie Burness has added a new international perspective to the rich history and distinctive approach of the gallery’s programme.