Concept
Renate van Nijen, Dutch-born, internationally exhibited artist and writer.
Since 2011 Renate lives and works in La Herradura, in southern Spain where she works in her studio. She also conducts art classes and art workshops in her studio and online, both for adults and teenagers.
The work by Renate van Nijen is best described as impressionist art. She usually works wet on wet, using short strokes and most of the time mixing her colours on the canvas, not on a palette. She avoids the use of black paint as this can be achieved by mixing red and blue. This way the colour black feels more organic!
Intuitively painted, most of her artworks consist of three layers. She first creates a basic, quite abstract and random layer in very bright and strong colours, then she builds the painting up with two more layers. The final layer is usually a combination of thick brush and palette knife strokes, and for the final touch some fine lines are added to define the subject, if this is necessary. Naturalism in pose or dimensions is not something that has her interest.
Renate's subject matter
Many of her artworks depict the female figure, however, Renate never uses models. In 2019 she started experimenting with animal art as well and she enjoyed that so much that it will be part of her overall genre. Renate loves to use surreal colours in her art. She believes the subconscious message that she provides through her art is one of acceptance, non-judgement and beauty. She is not trying to achieve perfection in the pose or dimensions of subjects in her art. The beauty comes from inside the artwork, from the energy that emanates from it. Renate seeks perfection in imperfection.
Inspiration
Renate gets her inspiration from life itself, which is, for example, noticeable in her use of colours. Before she moved to Italy in the late eighties, she was living in the Netherlands and her use of colours was quite dark. Then, when she lived in Italy (for four years) and also now in her new home country Spain, where she has lived since the year 2003, her colours became a lot brighter; as if she was touched by the sun and the outside colours.
Series
Renate likes to work in series, and has so far created several series:
Colourful Women: These are colourful female figures, sometimes somewhat sensual and surreal, usually with strong colours, created from her imagination.
Flamenco dancers: Andalusia, where Renate lives is the cradle of Flamenco dance and music. She likes to depict her Flamenco dancers with a bit of a twist, posing the dancers outside and not necessarily dancing.
Angels: Renate feels attracted by so-called spiritual themes and she has created a series of angel paintings, depicting angels in a slightly sensual way.
Buddha impressions: Renate likes to paint Buddha faces, and although she has practiced Japanese Nichiren Buddhism and still chants, she feels that Buddha has become a bit of a fashion object. She doesn’t feel that is bad as what Buddha stands for is a beautiful message to the world. Painting Buddhas does make her feel calm and at ease and she feels and hopes that her Buddha impressions will have a similar effect on the viewer and future owners of her work.
Animals: In 2019 Renate embarked on a new journey, namely painting animals, she does this in her own style, colourful, a bit rough, and sometimes with a positive message incorporated into the painting. Some of her artworks have a ‘hidden message’ which she won’t necessarily reveal, unless specifically asked for. These messages are not immediately visible, but whomever views these artworks will consciously or subconsciously receive the message. It is a very positive message and it is Renate’s desire that it will evoke a sense of happiness, calm and wellbeing.
Sometimes Renate uses some symbolism in her art without it being too obvious. Renate believes that her artwork has a strong energy and this can positively change a space, for example a living room or an office for the better
A professional artist for over three decades
Since the start of her painting career Renate has seen her work change, however, her basic style is still the same. Her work has become stronger.
In 1987 she was invited, to hold her first solo exhibition in a luxury hotel (Hotel Wolfheze) in the Netherlands. She showed twenty of her early works and sold out. in 1989 Renate went to live in Italy where she was invited for a solo exhibition during an art festival, in Gualdo Cattaneo (in Umbria). She lived in Italy for four years and had many solo exhibitions during cultural and art festivals.
Until now Renate has held way over 100 exhibitions of her artwork. too many to mention, in galleries, large business venues, Churches, art festivals, municipal halls, hospitals and much more. Both solo and group exhibitions, including in Paris, Rome and Amsterdam. She has an international clientele including people from New York and Moscow and countries such as Argentina, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Germany, France, The United Kingdom, and more.
Renate paints ‘her story’ with just a vague idea and let her intuition be the driver. The story behind some of her artworks is not necessarily recognised by the viewer, which she in fact encourages. She likes the observer to recognise their own story in her artwork, this way it can blend in with their lives. The ‘red moon’ in many of Renate’s older paintings represents the Egyptian Goddess Isis, as a symbol for female healing and magic, but also for intuition and creativity. Renate loves working intuitively using her personal emotions, to share them with the public, but without wanting to be intrusive.
The strong energy of her art can positively change a space, "turning a house into a home". or an office space into an environment of positive energy.
