Emilio Kruithof (Monster 1969) graduated from the Sint Joost Academy of Fine Arts in Breda in 1995. Emilio’s portraits of women, painted in his own particular style, are highly regarded both in his native country and abroad. The artist describes his work as “depth in simplicity.” As Kruithof explained in an interview: “I paint for the same reason as a women puts on makeup. It is a ritual. They do it every day with great care. I paint every day with the same care. Erotic minimalism. The form, the appearance, the attitude, the tone, pasty, transparencies and the brush stroke. The last touch, that’s what it’s all about. Once I see my model on the canvass, I have done everything I can to her. She has the right posture, the exact framing, the layering and structure. Finally comes my last, intimate ‘touch’, the stroke with which i give her slip the right to exist, with which I give her lips the status of a monument.”