Erik Mattijssen (born 1957, Veenendaal, Netherlands) is a Dutch artist known for his richly detailed, vibrantly colored drawings and large-scale works on paper. Working primarily in pencil, gouache, and pastel, Mattijssen creates imaginative compositions that bring together everyday objects, domestic interiors, and fragments of personal and collective memory. His work occupies a space between still life, collage, and visual storytelling, often suggesting entire narratives through the arrangement of objects rather than the depiction of people.
After initially studying pedagogy, Mattijssen enrolled at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam in 1979, graduating in 1984. He subsequently established a studio practice in Amsterdam while teaching at the academy for more than three decades, from 1988 until 2020. His imagery draws extensively on observations and experiences gathered through international travel and artist residencies, including extended stays in Ireland, Spain, France, India, and Suriname. These encounters with different cultures, landscapes, interiors, and everyday objects have become an enduring source of inspiration.
Mattijssen has exhibited widely throughout Europe and internationally, with solo exhibitions at institutions including Museum Jan Cunen, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Museum Het Valkhof, and Museum MORE in the Netherlands. In 2025, Museum MORE presented Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, a major retrospective featuring approximately fifty works spanning twenty-five years of his artistic practice. His work is represented in numerous public and private collections, including the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Centraal Museum Utrecht, AkzoNobel Art Foundation, and Stedelijk Museum Schiedam. In 2021, he received the NN Art Award at Art Rotterdam, recognizing his contribution to contemporary Dutch art.
