Joop Birker

Johannes (Joop) Wilhelmus Maria Birker (Tilburg 1935 - Tilburg 1993) attended the predecessor of the Academy for Visual Education and then the National Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Antwerp from 1952 to 1955 . In 1959 he made a large mural in the first Tilburg nightclub Campione in the then Koningstraat. His painting and drawing evolved from figurative via expressive to abstract. He received various prizes such as the Tétar van Elven Prize (1955), the Thérèse van Duyl-Schwartze Prize (1960) and the Sinjoren Prize from the city of Antwerp. Birker regularly stayed in that city, but also traveled to Italy, Sweden and Spain. In 1961 he went to live in Spain and was therefore nicknamed the Spanish Brabander. From then on he developed into a well-known and productive subject painter. Birker returned to the Netherlands in 1985.