He was always busy making the absolute painting, one of Jaap Hillenius' sons says about his father. The artist who was killed in a car accident in 1999 steadily built, averse to conventions and trends, an autonomous oeuvre, indefatigably looking for the ultimate beauty. In daily life, he did so too; the artist wore out a throng of girlfriends, although in a sense he stayed faithful to both his wife and his only muse. He did not have the time to be a real father. 'With my father in the train with a Nuts bar', is the best childhood memory his sons have of him. Kees Hin tries to get closer to this complex man, who imputed a profoundly melancholic soul to himself, like the writer Marcel Proust, whom he admired so deeply. In three films, that play on the screen alongside each other and alternately appear in the foreground, via interviews - with people like his wife, his muse and his sons - and archive footage, we get to know more about his daily (emotional) life, his work and ideas.
Jaap Hillenius, Trying to Get Closer (2006) is currently not available on any services.
Kees Hin
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