[1] Jan Vanriet was born in Antwerp and attended the Royal Atheneum of Hoboken where the art critic and promotor Marcel van Jole was one of his teachers.

[6] During this period, he developed into an excellent aquarellist and a few books were published: Maria Lecina, Death in Venice, Het teken van de hamster.

[8] He took part in the Menton Biennale and exhibited at Galerie Brusberg in Hannover and Galleria del Naviglio in Milan, where he met the distinguished French art historian and critic Pierre Restany, who became a fervent admirer of Vanriet's work.

[11] Vanriet was selected for the Sao Paulo Biennale (1979) and began a long series of exhibitions in California, mostly at the Wenger Gallery in San Diego, and later in Los Angeles.

The Ministry of Flemish Culture published a monograph of his work and selected him to represent Belgium at the Venice Biennale (1984) together with Karel Dierickx and Jan Fabre.

In the mid-1990s, Vanriet finished a series of 50 portraits as well as Volgens Johannes, 35 large works on Korean hanji paper, inspired by the Gospel of John, for which Dutch poet Benno Barnard wrote an epic text.

[1] New works were collected by the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas,[21] and by Deutsche Bank, Royal Belge, Crédit Lyonnais and Zürich Insurance.

In May 2004, the Lippisches Landesmuseum [de] in Detmold (Germany) exhibited Transport, paintings 1999-2004, many of them inspired by the tragic events in World War II.

[22] For Vanriet this is not an unusual theme; his parents and other members of his family engaged in the resistance against Nazi invaders, but they were made prisoner and deported to the concentration camps of Mauthausen and Ravensbrück.

[3][23] A year later, in 2005, Vanriet travelled to Israel for the hanging of his triptych Nathan the Wise in the historical building of the Jerusalem International YMCA, designed by Arthur Loomis Harmon.

[17] This collaboration brought Losing Face to the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Centre in Moscow (January 2015), where President Vladimir Putin visited the show.

In September 2016, Vanriet, along with 15 renowned painters, 7 other Belgians and 8 Americans, participated in the Brussels manifesto exhibition 'Painting After Postmodernism', curated by Barbara Rose, a show also presented in Malaga and in the Caserta Palace near Napels.

[1] He was commissioned by newspaper De Morgen to illustrate a novel daily by Hugo Claus,[43] and the latter wrote poems for ten of Vanriet’s etchings, published in the book The Ape In Efese.

Publishers in the Netherlands and France (De Bezige Bij, Balland, Le Seuil) illustrated the covers of their novels with his work.

[1] In 2004, Vanriet was commissioned to create a mural titled "The City Moves in the Palm of My hand" for the De Brouckère metro station in Brussels.

In 2007, the Dutch author Cees Nooteboom invited Vanriet to collaborate on a book with his short stories, Red Rain, first published by Suhrkamp in Germany.

2019 Kouwe kleren, Poëziecentrum[37] 2018 Radeloos geluk, Hollands Diep[36] 2016 Moederland, Hollands Diep 2014 Oud zeer, Plantin Instituut voor Typografie 2012 Leegstand, De Bezige Bij Antwerpen 2008 Stormlicht, Wagner & van Santen 1984 Geen hond die brood lust, Manteau 1979 Staat van beleg, Manteau 1974 Bella Ciao, Ontwikkeling 1973 Vast Tapijt, Manteau 1971 Met de Ramblers uit vissen, Revolver 1969 Met gehavend gemoed, Yang Ex Voto, Eric Rinckhout, De Zwarte Panter, 2018 The Music Boy, Andrew Graham-Dixon, Martin Herbert and Charlotte Mullins, The New Art Gallery Walsall, 2016 Song of Destiny, Paul Huvenne, Adam Zagajewski and Zofia Machnica, National Museum Gdansk, 2015 Losing Face, Stefan Hertmans and György Konrád, Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center Moscow, 2015 Omens, De Zwarte Panter, 2015 Vanity, Jan Vanriet, Charlotte Mullins, Lannoo, 2015 Losing Face, Stefan Hertmans and György Konrád, Ludion 2013 Closed Doors, Eric Rinckhout, Roberto Polo Gallery, 2012 Closing Time, Maarten Doorman en Eric Rinckhout, Ludion | De Bezige Bij, 2010 Jan Vanriet, Parcours 1966-2008, Marc Ruyters, Snoeck, 2008 Een Winterreise, Cees Nooteboom & Jan Vanriet, Literarte, 2007 De Testamenten, Jan Vanriet, with text by Marc Ruyters and Luc Devisscher, Davidsfonds Uitgeverij, 2005 Transport, Cees Nooteboom and Vera Scheef, Lippisches Landesmuseum Detmold, 2004 Transport, Bernard Dewulf, Art Concern, 2002 De reiziger is blind, Jean Pierre Rondas, De Geus, 2001 Café Aurora, Stefan Hertmans, De Geus, 2000 Jan Vanriet, Freddy de Vree, Lannoo, 1996 Matière et Mémoire, Pierre Restany, Centrum Elzenveld, 1993 Jan Vanriet, or the Subtle Disruption, Wim Meeuwis, Internationale Culturele Samenwerking, Biennale di Venezia, 1984 Jan Vanriet, L’état de siège du regard, Pierre Restany, Galerie Isy Brachot, Paris, 1983 Jan Vanriet, Edward Lucie-Smith, Uitgeverij Manteau, Antwerpen, & van Gennep, 1982