Bart Sommers

BART SOMERS is a Dutch contemporary sculptor born in 1958. Based in Heusden, the Netherlands, he has developed an instantly recognizable artistic language centered on steel, creating figurative sculptures reduced to their most essential lines. Human figures, horses, dogs and other animals emerge through carefully balanced forms in which movement and character are conveyed with remarkable economy.

Before devoting himself fully to sculpture, Somers led a life shaped by travel, adventure and exploration. His journeys took him through Africa and Asia, along the Silk Road, across India by motorcycle and throughout Latin America, where he also climbed some of the highest peaks of the Andes. He even took part in the Dakar Rally as part of the event’s organization. These experiences and encounters gradually became an important source of inspiration for his sculptural imagination.

His primary material is steel, which he works through a highly physical process. Standing before a flat sheet of metal, Somers approaches it almost like a painter facing a blank canvas: he cuts with a torch, shapes the material with a forging hammer and uses a hydraulic press to create volume and movement. He describes his process as sculpting with a hammer and painting with a cutting torch.

Through this technical mastery, Somers transforms an inherently hard and industrial material into forms that appear remarkably soft, light and organic. A single line of steel may suggest the curve of a horse’s back, the movement of a leg or the posture of a human figure. Rather than adding detail, he continuously removes it until only the elements necessary to identify the subject remain.His approach can therefore be understood as figuration pushed toward maximum abstraction. The subject remains immediately recognizable, yet its form is reduced to an almost graphic structure. For Somers, any further reduction would make the image disappear, while adding more would weaken its essential character.

The artist works particularly with Corten steel and highly polished stainless steel. Corten develops a warm reddish-brown patina, while stainless steel reflects its surroundings. In the latter material, his sculptures can appear almost transparent as they merge visually with the space around them, creating a continuous dialogue between material, light, emptiness and reflection.

Negative space is as important as the metal itself. Open areas within the sculptures allow light, architecture and landscape to pass through the work. As a result, each sculpture changes according to its environment and the viewer’s position, creating an impression of movement despite the solidity of steel.

Animals, particularly horses, occupy an important place in Somers’ work. Rather than reproducing anatomy in exhaustive detail, he seeks to capture a posture or state of being: strength, stillness, expectation or motion. His broader practice also includes human figures and works inspired by design and machinery, including automobiles and aircraft. His official portfolio is accordingly structured around People, Animals and Design.

In 2016, Somers brought together his passion for travel and sculpture by taking a life-size steel horse to Mongolia. The artwork became a catalyst for encounters throughout the journey, turning sculpture itself into a means of communication across cultures.

Through this distinctive practice, Bart Somers transforms the strength of steel into a light and expressive sculptural language, using just a few carefully chosen lines to convey movement, character and presence.

Discover Bart Somers’ sculptures available at Galerie De Medicis, Place des Vosges in Paris, and explore his contemporary works in steel, Corten steel and stainless steel, where minimal lines, movement and balance bring the material to life.