Marije Vlaanderen
This is me.
Hello to you all. My name is Marije and I am a Dutch contemporary mixed media artist living in Luxembourg with my loving husband, three amazing children and Jack, the dog.
Inspired as a child by Klimt and his extraordinary female portraits, I have been painting and drawing since I can remember. Creativity has been my constant companion. My professional life brought me elsewhere, but the need of expressing myself on paper never left me.
This is my first collection "tribute to the female face: her story", revealing the beauty of the female face. All portraits aspire to be seen, expressing their emotions and all the layers behind the unseen. Expressing hidden secrets, never ending thoughts, the aging of the body and soul, the priceless wisdom all woman have, but above all, expressing their strength. All my faces speak without a word. Every peak, glance or look holds a story.
Working primarily with mixed media on paper, I build female portraits through successive layers of material, gesture and erasure, allowing each surface to hold traces of what is visible and what is unrevealed. Texture plays a central role in my process, not only as a visual element but as a means of embodying psychological depth. Rather than aiming for idealized beauty, I seek to reveal what exists beneath the visible through each layer: memory, vulnerability and the quiet strength carried through lived experience. That what we see is always partial, shaped by what lies beneath. The surface becomes a metaphor for the emotional and psychological layers every woman carries.
The women I portray do not demand attention. They invite a slower way of looking. Their silence is intentional. Within that silence lies reflection, connection and recognition. My portraits need to be felt, literally, as much as they are seen and reflected upon in order to be fully understood. Ultimately, my goal is to create work that resonates beyond the surface. That is exactly what I hope to achieve: that it resonates with you, evokes emotion and brings a sense of positivity.
With my series A Tribute to the Female Face: Her Story, I celebrate femininity not as perfection, but as something beautifully imperfect, evolving and deeply human. My hope is that viewers recognise something of themselves in these faces and leave with a renewed appreciation for the quiet strength we so often carry unseen.
Enjoy dear art lovers!
Marije
