In the waters of the Pacific Ocean Gauguin found the uninhibited kingdom of colours that was to be so inspirational for European expressionism and deeply influenced the later development of European painting, for we can trace Gauguin's unfettered approach to colour through Neuve Wilde to Howard Hodgkin and up to the present. 
 

All this is vital to understanding of the paintings of Jan Heres. Just as the journey to Tahiti was of fundamental significance for Gauguin, for Heres a study stay in Indonesia has been formative. Confrontation with the Asian approach to the image is characteristic for his work. We can find in it both a scientific and purely intuitive pole. His theme is most often interaction, whether between man and his surroundings, or between people. Heres explores the internal state of the human being and his confrontation with the world around him, and on his canvases paradoxical situations often develop, which have their opposite pole in what can be an extraordinary vibrancy of colour. He is interested in irrationality, which he explores by means of painting, and so he approaches the canvas with an unclear idea which gradually manifests itself. Jan Heres is a painter of wild presence, on his canvases we will find the unrestrained energy and colour of the urban jungle, which connects individuals and their emotional worlds. 

[1] Paul Gauguin, Noa Noa, Praha 1919, s. 17-18.