Interview
Renate van Nijen
Renate, an internationally exhibited Dutch artist, now residing in Spain, is an artist whose work incorporates elements of Impressionism, Contemporary Fauvism and Surrealism. Renate explores themes of beauty and acceptance expressing them with strong colours, symbolism, and slightly hidden messages. Inspired by passers-by and personal experiences, she projects vibrant colours into her work, reflecting her lives journey. She currently shifts her focus on capturing the strength of femininity and reflecting the spirit of women who have made a significant contribution to art history.
Renate van Nijen
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I started my professional art journey over 35 years ago, when I was invited by an art teacher, who had seen my work, to come to a small village (Gualdo Cattaneo) in Italy to participate in the local annual cultural festival and exhibit my artwork. This art teacher literally said ‘ma sei un'artista!’ this means, ‘but you are an artist!’ Before that, I would always paint, draw and be creative but I didn't consider myself a professional artist. To prepare for Italy, I was allowed to work in the studio of late Dutch artist, Iet van Es. Her work was very abstract and she encouraged me to loosen up my, until then, Surrealism style. I did and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Before I went to Italy, I had my first ever solo exhibition in a hotel - Hotel Wolfheze - in The Netherlands, where I come from, and I sold most of the paintings. I am actually Dutch. I went to Italy, where I then stayed for four years and enjoyed many solo and group exhibitions during important art festivals - for example in Spoleto - and in galleries. After my four years in Italy, I was accepted by a Dutch committee - WIK - which gave me the official status of professional artist and made it possible to exhibit my work in many art galleries and other places in The Netherlands. Then, in 2003, I moved to Spain.”
What inspires you?
“I tend to say that I feel inspired by my surroundings and that passers-by are my models. I actually never used models, even though, throughout the years my favourite subject has been the female figure. I now have been living in southern Spain for many years and I did get inspired to create flamenco dancer paintings and bull paintings. I also feel attracted to spirituality in a sense that I meditate daily and since a few years I often incorporate messages into my paintings, which are not obvious, barely noticeable. I love to give a subconscious, positive message to the future owner of my artworks. I tend to work in series and have now embarked on a new challenge, inspired by a book that I've just finished.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“I already explained that I tend to work in series. Flamenco dancers, colourful women and bull paintings. However, together with a Spanish friend, who was born in Paris and has loved and worked with art all his live, I have written - it came out a month ago - the book ‘The HeArt of Paris' - a unique journey to pay homage to women who made the evolution of Art possible.’ The journey of writing this book was fascinating. In this book, Mario and I are walking through the streets of Paris and visiting places where artists lived and worked and of course we go to museums to admire the artworks. During our writing process we wondered who the women were in the lives of these great artists, like Manet, Monet, Degas, etc. Who were there models, their partners, their inspiration and were there any female artists. We started rewriting the book with a focus on those women who influenced so many artists and movements.
Soon into my writing process, I felt inspired to paint portraits of women. It started with three imaginary women influenced by Art Nouveaux. Then I decided to actually create portraits of those real women; painters, writers, courtesans, wives, models / muses, dancers, photographers, film makers but also female art collectors and patrons. There are so many and of course we couldn't include them all, but I will continue to write more of their fascinating stories via a Substack Blog. Painting these women is an ongoing process. I have so far finished 19 portraits. Each of them look you straight into the eyes, following you around the room, as if saying ‘Look at me - I am worthy - see me.’ The HeArt of Paris, I feel, is an incredible book with a lot of information about the evolution of art from 1850 to 1940, from academic art to abstract art. People will be able to read about the great painters, sculptors, writers, etc., for example, where they lived, what inspired them, and also who those women in their lives were. I feel this book is important as till this day - although it is changing - more attention seems to be given to male artists than to female artists. The book also gives an empowering message to female artists or women in general to stand up for themselves. Many of the women in the book did, despite living in a time when women had no rights.”
How would you describe your work?
“Colourwise, I think I'm best described as a fauvist, but I also use symbols and surreal features in my work so I guess it's a mixture of those three. But I would also call myself an impressionist. I create my impression of what's in my mind, or, with my latest series, of the women I have described in my book. As I said, I sometimes include more or less hidden positive messages in my work. But the women of my last series each have a message for the viewer. They all have some symbols incorporated into the paintings. Symbols representing love, health, strength, etc. Their message is their story of overcoming and surviving.”
Which artists influence you most?
“Generally speaking, I don't feel influenced by other artists in my artwork. Although I can admire the work of fellow artists, I have found my own style. This shines through in all my work, even the work I created over 35 years ago in Italy.”
The HeArt of Paris - by Renate van Nijen
“I create my impression of what's in my mind, or, with my latest series, of the women I have described in my book. As I said, I sometimes include more or less hidden positive messages in my work. But the women of my last series each have a message for the viewer.”
What is your creative process like?
“I don't plan what colours I use and I always create a random colourful background and then, with the subject in mind, I let things happen. I like to keep my work rather rough and I don't mix my colours on a palette, instead I mix them directly on the canvas. Colours are important to me, I like to use very strong colours on a rough background so that there is structure in my artwork. I work wet on wet with short strokes, avoiding the use of black paint. Dark and grey tones are achieved by mixing complementary colours. I usually work in 3 layers. I create a basic layer in bright and strong colours, then I build the painting up from there. The final layer is a combination of thick brush strokes and the use of a palette knife, I then add some lines to define the subject if necessary.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“I believe the role of artists is increasingly more important, and by artists I mean of all genres, music, art, writing, dance, etc. Especially now with an avalanche of AI books and designs it is often impossible to know what is true or fake. I have seen absolutely beautiful AI art images, and I'm not totally against that, however, it is not for me. I do believe that art created by a person in a studio has more soul, more energy. The message gets transmitted on an energetic level. I trust and believe that there will always be people who sense and appreciate that.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“My latest exhibition was in the village where I live, La Herradura. It was a joined exhibition of three female artists, one from the US, one from Denmark, and one from The Netherlands - me. We have all been living in this village for many years. Over my art career, I've held hundreds of exhibitions of my work, but here in southern Spain, close to where I live, there are no serious art galleries. I am now in the process of marketing my book and still creating more paintings. And will soon go to Madrid to present both the book and my art there. The book is in the process of being translated into Spanish. I do have ongoing exhibitions in two businesses in the village, one of them a real estate agency, which have already created some sales.”
