Wim received his Fine Arts MA degrees from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and did post-graduate work at the University of

Edinburg, Scotland, and at the University of Perugia, Italy. Wim Blom taught at the University of the Witwatersrand and at the Johannesburg

School of Art. Trained as an art historian he held the post of Research Curator at the National Gallery of Canada and subsequently that of

Curatorial Administrator.After leaving the museum world Wim Blom dedicated himself exclusively to painting. For a number of years he lived in

Italy and Spain. Wim Blom was a devoted traveller and an inveterate reader in several languages. Wim Blom’s work is represented in public

collections, such as the National Gallery of Canada, the South African National Gallery in numerous corporate and private collections in Canada,

France, Great Britain, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, and the U.S.A. Wim

Blom has exhibited internationally.

“Wim Blom’s work is precise, of a timeless quality. He adopts an intensely realistic approach to painting still lifes

and images of uninhabited interiors, exploring the intrigue of spaces.”

Realism in painting is a movement that is deeply divided in its outlook. It embraces many contradictory aspirations and has generated much controversy even

in its own ranks. For these reasons, Wim Blom, who painted in a style which must be called Realist, mistrusts fashion and the vagaries of critical taste. He has

succeeded in maintaining his independence from the principal trends that can at present be included under the heading of Realism.Wim Blom’s work is

conceived for private contemplation and makes it special appeal to those who wish to savour at close range the artist’s particular way with form, colour,

texture and light. If the size of his work invites intimate, meditative inspection, his subject matter - single objects, still life, interiors - extend an analogous

invitation. In this patient, selected and passionate search, the realism of his paintings is faithful to the object represented, but it transcends reality and is

submerged beneath poetic transformation.Wim Blom’s training as an art historian has made him acutely aware of history, it’s meaning and heritage. The

methods of historical research instilled in him have blended with the connoisseurship he acquired as the research curator at the National Gallery of Canada.

This conjunction informs his work as a painter. His paintings and drawings represent a quiet, unpublished vanguard of their own, so radically steeped in

tradition as to be new and offers a fresh artistic experience. In the context of contemporary art it is fascinating to see how Wim Blom’s exploration of the past

produces results with an emphatically modern flavour.

Willem Adriaan Blom (Wim Blom) was born in Germiston, South Africa on the 22nd of February 1927. ( †18th of January 2021)

From the Estate of Wim Blom