His paintings represent acts of physical, sexual and psychological violence and elicit strong emotional responses.
He grew up in a Roman Catholic environment and was especially interested in the story of the crucifixion: "I found myself wondering who the people were [who were] calling for Christ's death.
[5] In 2010, Ophuis traveled to Sierra Leone to interview former child soldiers and painted a series of portraits of them.
The documentary focuses on the process of painting The Bet, Boy or Girl (2012), which depicts four soldiers restraining a pregnant woman before cutting her open to learn the unborn child's sex.
[6] In 1997, Ophuis' painting Sweet Violence (1996), which depicts three men sexually abusing two children, was removed from an exhibition in the Bergkerk in Deventer after public outcry.
His large works from the last few years demonstrate how he has primarily looked to the nineteenth century for references; to the likes of Goya, Géricault, Delacroix, Courbet and Manet (a tradition continued in the 20th century by Picasso, Golub and Richter, with Jeff Wall as the contemporary exponent).
In present time Ophuis’ paintings can be compared to David Fincher’s film Fight Club (1999).
Ophuis does not give a direction in his paintings and the viewer is compelled to make his own moral judgement.