Where Komitto.art began

6 okt 2026 · Jaurana

Komitto.art began with one artist and one friendship. For more than twenty years, Paul Koning (1943–2026) and I talked about his work, the philosophy of Taoism and the meaning of art, as well as its occasional nonsense. It all began in Girona.

Girona, 2005

In 2005 I came to Girona, Spain, for an internship with a collector of contemporary art who was setting up a private museum for an extensive collection. Its first exhibition space, devoted to Paul Koning, had just been completed, and Paul himself was there as artist in residence. "Paul will pick you up," I was told on the phone. At the airport I spotted him straight away: waving cheerfully, in a bright blue shirt.

From the very first moment, our conversations were lively and full of humour, often in the shade of the great tree by the museum.

Every morning our host gathered us up to explore the region. In the afternoons we worked: Paul in the studio, and I on an essay about The Muses (2002), his monumental nine-panel painting of the Greek goddesses of the arts, alive with colour, light and musical rhythm. By the time I left, a conversation had begun that would last more than twenty years.

Twenty years of conversations

That time in Spain was the seed of many more meetings, and to my collecting his work. Back home, I visited Paul regularly, first in his studio in an old school building, and later in his monastery studio in Vogelenzang. I treasured those visits. There was always more I wanted to ask.

Let’s Talk Art

Explore stories behind the art.

Learning to look

A teacher as well as an artist, Paul taught me to paint, and through painting I learned to look. Strangely enough, that was never part of my art history studies.

His work has great depth. His calligraphic line, full of colour, sometimes with light touches and sometimes with deep, dark tones, carries you into another world. It is freedom, and it opens the eyes of people who have never experienced art before.

The work and the promise

Paul's inner calling has become mine. Before he passed, he entrusted his life's work to me, and I promised to keep it together, represent it with the devotion he gave it, and exhibit it.

That is the foundation of Komitto.art, founded with one conviction: there are extraordinary artists the world has not yet discovered, unique talents who deserve a stage. Paul is the first, and his work will be shared with many more people, beginning with the Koning Editions, a limited series of drawings from his final years. Paul selected them together with me, excited to see his work approached in a fresh light.

At its centre is the Blind Drawing series: thousands of coloured dots and fields of Veronese green that evoke a threshold between this world and what lies beyond. Each drawing is limited to seven, signed and numbered.

The series will be shown for the first time at an upcoming art fair. Register your interest to be kept informed.