2000, Eric Bos, art critic, Dagblad van het Noorden

What grabs my attention in the art of Thijn –autodidact that he is – is his ability to find his own way and to develop a style which is closely related to the Dutch Surrealism of Hynckes, Willem van Leusen and Melle, during the period roughly covering 1940 and 1960.

At first sight the remarkable expression of textures of the many objects in the universe of his work almost suggest that the artist cannot distinguish organic from non-organic structures – for example, wads of cotton-wool turn out to be clouds.

The fact that Thijn did not follow a formal education in an art academy is an advantage, specifically because the curious elaboration of some materials have a very alienating effect, which intensifies the surrealistic effect: there is no question of an existing world in his work. His horizons cease to exist beyond the skyline. Although the artist suggests that a number of still lifes form landscapes, it is all about the inner world. The softness, the atmospheric character of all this, very much suggests that we are really dealing with the inner man.

We look at well-known shapes and try to see the connections, just as a radiologist analyses his X-rays and tries to find an interpretation in the tangle of known and unknown details, diagnose the case, point out the differences between an emulsion spot and the germ of a malignant tumour, between a scratch and a very small crack.

Although it bears all its traces, the surrealism here does not proceed from the perception of the tangible reality but from the internal feelings of the artist, from his dreams and subconscious. His scenes represent his desires, fears and obsessions, whether sexually charged or not. We should see the scenes of Kees Thijn as personal metaphors, as playful mysterious pictures. The artist is constantly looking for the boundaries of substantiality, much like his recent series of china vases which serve as a metaphor of memory and remembrance and have a tendency to dissolve in the scenery of a theatre.