Jan theun van rees
Fine art photography exploring space, light and perception
Jan Theun van Rees is a Dutch visual artist working in photography, whose work explores how space, architecture and light are perceived and transformed into images. His fine art photography focuses on the tension between constructed environments and the experience of space. With a background in architectural documentation, his practice has evolved into creating and capturing imagined, often temporary spatial realities, resulting in highly composed and conceptually layered photographs.
More about the artist
Jan Theun van Rees is a Dutch visual artist working in photography. His practice explores how space is perceived, constructed, and transformed through light and image. With a background in architectural photography, he gradually moved away from documentation and into a more personal and intuitive exploration of spatial experience.
Rather than simply photographing existing environments, Jan Theun builds his own temporary spaces, sculptural, often abstract constructions created solely to be photographed. These works do not represent reality but suggest it. Through careful manipulation of light and material, he creates images that blur the line between built structure and visual illusion.
Earlier in his career, Jan Theun focused on overlooked or “unsightly” spaces, technical rooms in museums, dismantled theatres, and hidden corners of public buildings. His photographs revealed the quiet, often unnoticed beauty of these in-between places. Over time, his attention shifted from documenting space to shaping it.
His most recent body of work, Painted Room, continues this evolution. In this series, he constructs entire environments with simple materials and painted surfaces, then photographs them under carefully controlled lighting. The resulting works are serene, spatially ambiguous compositions that evoke presence, stillness, and perception. They speak to viewers drawn to fine art photography, architectural imagery, and visual experiences grounded in material and light.
Jan Theun’s work has been acquired by private collectors and museums in the Netherlands and beyond. Each photograph invites the viewer to reconsider what space means, and how we experience it through image.
