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Mrt 14

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A detail from a large new painting I’m close to finishing.(Some of you may remember an earlier detail I shared on January 1.)

For a moment I thought I might include it in This Is Not a Solo, an exhibition I’m currently curating and participating in. But some paintings ask for a different first encounter.

Rather than rushing this one into view, I’m planning to show it first in the studio, alongside visits to This Is Not a Solo - Mise-en-scène of a memoir. I’ll share more soon.

🖼️The full painting measures 110 × 200 cm and is titled The Wind That Shakes the Dune Grass II.

#isabellawerkhoven #newwork #studioevent #paintingdetail #contemporarypainting ...

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isabella_werkhoven

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Feb 27

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SAVE THE DATE — 22 Mar–3 May 2026 | Pictura, Groningen

This Is Not a Solo — a staged memoir

Isabella Werkhoven | This Is Not a Solo — a staged memoir (mise-en-scène van een memoire) ***
With never-before-shown works and unique re-stagings (1995–2026)

A memory palace (geheugenpaleis) a scenographic journey through image, sound and space.
Paintings, drawings, film, animation and a monumental video installation unfold as one inner script — my work as the axis, alongside @simeonnijenhuis and 15 guest artists. (See pinned comment for all participating @)

🖼️ Image: Early work of mine: De Verwarring | The Confusion (1996) — mixed media / 100 x 150 cm / collection unknown: me painting the view from my studio, snowy winter outside, cuckoo flowers (pinksterbloemen) floating through the landscape.

#ContemporaryArt #ArtExhibition #InstallationArt #VisualArts #contemporarypainting ...

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isabella_werkhoven

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Feb 13

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I can borrow one of these two paintings from the very nice owners for an exhibition in Groningen that I’m curating coming spring: which one would you like to see on show if you had to choose? None of these two has ever been shown on an exhibition.
🇳🇱 NL Ik kan 1 van deze 2 schilderijen lenen van de ontzettend aardige eigenaren voor een tentoonstelling in Groningen die ik cureer komende lente: welke van de twee zouden jullie graag eens op een tentoonstelling willen zien als je moest kiezen? Geen van beide schilderijen is eerder tentoongesteld.
>> Tipje van de sluier: de tentoonstelling heeft als titel:
This Is Not a Solo - Een tentoonstelling als memoires
En daarvoor heb ik nog 14 kunstenaars uit Groningen en de rest van het land uitgenodigd. Binnenkort meer!

🖼️ 1. Snowy in F Minor (Sunflowers nr. 13 / 2012-2023 / 80 x 125 cm / oil on linen/ private collection
🖼️ 2. Cosmic Wood IV / 2009 - 2024 / 80 x 125 cm / oil on linen / private collection
#contemporarypainting
#exhibition #tentoonstelling
#sunflowers #forest ...

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isabella_werkhoven

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Feb 3

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NL: Een paar van mijn schilderijen uit de tentoonstelling Gronings Licht in het museum van Ezinge.
EN: Just a few picks from my paintings on the exhibition Northern Light in the museum of Ezinge. #contemporarypainting #isabellawerkhoven #landscapesoftheinbetween #oilpainting #artlovers ...

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isabella_werkhoven

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Feb 1

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Another subject that isn’t immediately clear at first glance. Viewers have already projected many different interpretations onto this painting — something I always enjoy. It actually depicts an abstracted allotment shed beside the railway near The Hague.

“Four Seasons in One Day” (2022–23) is currently on view in the exhibition Gronings Licht at Museum Wierdenland. Prior to this exhibition, the painting had not been shown publicly.
1. Detail
2. Full view

40 × 50 × 3.5 cm
Acrylic & oil on panel
Private collection

#contemporaryart
#contemporarypainting
#oilpainting
#landscapeinthecity
#artcollector ...

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isabella_werkhoven

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Jan 28

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At first glance, many people cannot immediately identify what kind of object this is.

“Rear View” (2014) shows the back of a waterslide at the outdoor pool where my studio is located — seen in winter, when function dissolves and only structure remains.

What belongs to noise, speed and bodies in summer becomes quiet, almost abstract, once the season withdraws.

The premiere of this work was in a group exhibition at Cokkie Snoei, Rotterdam. Two years later, in 2016/17, it was shown on loan from the owner in my solo exhibition Enchanted at Museum MORE. It is now on view in Gronings Licht at Museum Wierdenland.

Rear View (Pool Slide II)
40 × 60 cm
Oil on linen/canvas
Private collection

#contemporarypainting
#DutchArt
#MuseumExhibition
#landscapepainting
#offseason ...

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isabella_werkhoven

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Jan 21

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Detail from Nature’s Secret Game II (Sunflowers Nr. 16) / 2024 / 120 x 150 cm / acrylic and oil on panel / private collection

Thanks to the new owners 🙏🏼, this large piece is showcased at Museum Wierdenland in Ezinge, Groningen. As the hometown of the renowned painter Matthijs Röling, the museum features his works depicting his garden.

If you`re near Groningen, consider visiting the exhibition featuring Henk Helmantel, Anke Roder, Geurt Busser, and myself, each with our own dedicated space.

#sunflowers #tentoonstelling #museum #contemporarypainting #isabellawerkhoven ...

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isabella_werkhoven

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Jan 13

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Before this painting leaves for a private collection in Basel, Switzerland, I carefully added a few finishing touches after all - just as I had always planned.
I almost didn’t dare to anymore, after everyone who attended the private viewing at my studio in November reacted with surprise, and even indignation, when I said I still wanted to change something…🙂
But I wanted to see whether I could strengthen the concept of this painting even further: moving from semi-abstraction in the periphery towards realistic detail in the focal point.

🖼️ Take Two of the Balcony Scene / 2019-‘26 / 65 x 75 cm / acrylic and oil on linen canvas / private collection, Basel

#contemporarypainting #figurativepainting #abstracttorealism #studioartist #isabellawerkhoven ...

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isabella_werkhoven

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Jan 1

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A hopeful 2026 🙏🏼🌠 to you all!
And to new beginnings. ✨💫
This is a 🔎detail of an ongoing work, part of a group of paintings I’ll be returning to and completing in early 2026.
The whole work measures 110 × 200 cm. A large landscape begun at the start of 2025.

#contemporaryart #painting #oilpainting
#workinprogress ...

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isabella_werkhoven

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Dec 24

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Christmas Eve ✨
A slow zoom into Don’t Break the Spell, a #painting I finished about 6 weeks ago. You might recognise it. Now I want to show it for a different reason. Art as comfort — a place to be still, even for a moment.
Thinking of everyone who has to survive war today. ❤️‍🩹

🖼️ Don’t Break the Spell / 2025 / 90 x 90 cm / acrylic and oil on linen / private collection

#contemporaryart #contemporarypainting #isabellawerkhoven #frozenpond

Alt: Reel with a slow zoom into a detail of Don’t Break the Spell (a quiet winter scene with snow and a frozen pond). ...

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isabella_werkhoven

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Dec 18

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EN: Who says collecting paintings is only for boomers? Or that painting is “dead” — soon to be overtaken by AI? This work is heading (again) to a rather young couple (31) — both medical specialists in training —sparked by the female half of the duo.
They’d never bought art before, and it hadn’t even crossed her mind… until she happened to see the #exhibition ‘Gronings Licht’. Standing face to face with my swimming pool paintings, she felt an immediate, strong resonance — and suddenly the rest of the work landed too. She told me she thought: “I have to do something with this.”
Now they’re over the moon with their very first art purchase — and I’m just as happy. She shared wonderful stories (including a nocturnal swim in the Wadden Sea) that this nocturne made tangible again, almost as if she could re-live it.

🖼️ Nocturne Series: nr.4 (Backstage II) (Pool nr.16)
2020–’25 · 23 × 31 cm (image size) · 27 × 35 cm (framed)
Oil on Arches oil paper ·

NL Wie zegt dat schilderkunst verzamelen alleen voor boomers is? Of schilderkunst “dood”, op termijn door AI ingehaald? Dit werk gaat nu (weer) naar een best jong koppel (31) — allebei medisch specialist in opleiding — op initiatief van de vrouwelijke helft.
Ze hadden nog nooit kunst gekocht, en het was niet eerder in haar opgekomen. Tot ze toevallig de tentoonstelling #GroningsLicht zag. Oog in oog met mijn zwembadschilderijen voelde ze ineens een heel sterke verbinding/resonantie — en daarmee kwam ook het andere werk binnen. Ze dacht: “Ik moet hier iets mee.”
En nu dus helemaal blij met deze allereerste kunstaankoop. En ik al niet minder, want wat had ze mooie verhalen — onder meer over een nachtelijke zwemtocht in de Waddenzee, die door deze nocturne ineens weer tastbaar werd, alsof ze de ervaring haast opnieuw beleefde.
🖼️ Nocturne Series: nr.4 (Backstage II) (Pool nr.16)
2020–’25 · 23 × 31 cm (beeldformaat) · 27 × 35 cm (incl. lijst)
Olieverf op Arches olieverfpapier•

#isabellawerkhoven #nocturne #nocturnepainting #nightpainting #poolpainting #swimmingpoolpainting #oilpainting #contemporarypainting #contemporaryart #dutchartist #artcollector #artcollecting #firstartpurchase #newcollectors #atmosphericpainting mooi ...

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isabella_werkhoven

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Dec 11

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EN: Dry the Rain / 2022–2025 / acrylic and oil on linen / 105 × 115 cm / art collection @hanboersma

This painting grew out of a conversation shortly after my book came out, with one of the Netherlands’ leading painting conservators – @hanboersma, who has worked on important paintings by George Breitner,Jan Sluijters, Dick Ket and also is an #artcollector
After seeing my book, we started wondering what would happen if I pushed one of my landscapes further into abstraction. He said he would be interested in buying such a painting.

Dry the Rain became a large, abstracted waterscape with abstract, as well as realistic plants and branches in the foreground, a small building in the distance and very pale yellow foliage catching the light. Many slow layers of oil paint built up over an acrylic underpainting.

Some of you may recognise fragments from the in-progress details I posted last week.
🖼️Here is the finished work – swipe for details.

#isabellawerkhoven #painting #contemporaryart #landscapepainting #artcollection #artlover #landscapesoftheinbetween #waterscape

NL: Dry the Rain / 2022–2025 / acryl en olieverf op linnen / 105 × 115 cm / kunstcollectie @hanboersma

Dit schilderij is ontstaan uit een gesprek, vlak nadat mijn boek verscheen, met één van ’s lands beste schilderijrestauratoren Han Boersma, die belangrijke werken onder handen heeft gehad van Breitner, Isaac Israëls, Jan Sluijters, Dick Ket en ook een #kunstverzamelaar is.

N.a.v. mijn boek vroegen we ons af wat er zou gebeuren als ik een van mijn landschappen verder richting abstractie zou duwen. Hij zei dat ie geïnteresseerd zou zijn om dat schilderij te kopen.

Zo ontstond Dry the Rain: een grote, geabstraheerde waterpartij met zowel abstracte als realistische planten en takken op de voorgrond, een gebouwtje in de verte en heel lichtgeel gebladerte dat het licht vangt. Veel langzame lagen olieverf over een acryl-onderlaag.

Een aantal van jullie zal misschien details herkennen uit de in-progress fragmenten die ik vorige week deelde.
🖼️ Hier zie je het voltooide werk — swipe voor details.

#isabellawerkhoven #schilderij #hedendaagsekunst #landschapschilderij #kunstcollectie ...

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