Carolein Smit

Carolein Smit is a Dutch artist based in Riemst, Belgium, internationally recognized for her detailed and symbolically rich ceramic sculptures. Born in Amersfoort in 1960, she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Sint Joost in Breda, the Netherlands (1979–1984), specializing in graphics and lithography. Originally trained as a lithographer, she began working with clay in 1996 during a three-month residency at the European Ceramics Work Centre in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.

Working outside the conventions of traditional ceramic training, Smit approaches the medium without technical boundaries, combining hand-building with press-moulded details. Her intricate glazing process involves multiple firings, layering glazes and lustres to achieve complex surfaces and colour effects.

Since the early 2000s, Smit has exhibited widely in museums, galleries, and art fairs across Europe and beyond. Her major solo exhibitions include Myth and Mortality: The Fairytale World of Carolein Smit at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2018); L’Amour Fou at the Grassi Museum, Leipzig (2018); Secret Garden at the Stedelijk Museum Kampen (2022); and Dents! Crocs! Griffes! at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris (2022). Her work has also been presented at the Kunsthal Rotterdam, Drents Museum, and numerous galleries in Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, and beyond. She is a regular participant in international art fairs such as TEFAF Maastricht, PAD Paris, Art Paris, and Collect London.

Her sculptures are held in prominent public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (Paris), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam), Grassi Museum (Leipzig), Drents Museum (Assen), Museum MORE (Gorssel), Badisches Landesmuseum (Karlsruhe), Museum Beelden aan Zee (Scheveningen), and the FLICAM International Museum (Fuping, China), as well as numerous corporate and private collections worldwide.

Visit Carolein Smit’s website and Instagram page.