Johfra i.e. Johannes Fanciscus Gijsbertus van den Berg)

Artist : Johfra Fransiscus, Johannes, Gijsbertus van den Berg)

 Year of birth : 1919, The Netherlands

 Education : Royal Academy of Art

 Price indication : fl. 4.000,- / fl. 90.000,-

 Unfortunately the painter Johfra passed away recently, November the sixth 1998. In the
 beginning of 1997 Johfra gave Galerie Utrecht the privilege of being the one and only
 dealer of his work in Europe. Johfra never doubted his own style, the so-called
 meta-realistic style, even though a great many people and reviewers were negative and
 against his work. Throughout his whole life he was never taken seriously by the official
 art-institutes and museums. But his exhibitions showed the opposite: loads of visitors and
 always sold out. Many writers were inspired by his paintings and many books have been
 written about him. Actually Johfra was never really happy with the name �meta-realist�. The
 journalist Hein Steehouwer gave this title to him. Just before Johfra died, his own
 autobiography was published: �Symphony Fantastic�. In this book he explains why he wrote
 this autobiography: "So many people tried to label me and tried to place me in a certain
 corner. One writer who made an excellent biography about me, wrote in his book that I
 was a �Gnostic teacher who wanted to purchase and convince pupils through my painting! I
 just wanted to make some things clear. Who knows more about me than myself? 

 The works of Johfra can be placed in two categories: hyperrealistic paintings and
 surrealistic paintings.