Pieter Pourbus | Renaissance painter

Pieter Jansz. Pourbus (1523-1584) was a Flemish Renaissance painter, draftsman, engineer and cartographer who was active in Bruges during the 16th century.

He is known primarily for his religious and portrait paintings.

Pourbus was the leading figure of his generation in Bruges, often pioneering techniques.

Stylistically speaking, he is part of the generation of Frans Floris.

Jantina Peperkamp, 1968

As a self-taught artist, Peperkamp has developed her own unique style.

Jantina Peperkamp's paintings show us a parallel reality, a glimps into her personal perception.

As a self-taught artist, Peperkamp has developed her own unique style.

Her paintings are painstakingly created with many thin layers of paint that reveal an incredible amount of detail.

Frans van Straaten, 1963 | Figurative sculptor

Born in Hague, Frans van Straaten is a Dutch artist and known for his bronze sculptures.

He is a figurative artist and sculptor, who creates bronze sculptures in which he unites force and movement.

In 1985 Van Straaten obtained his second-level teaching certificate in Drawing and Handicrafts.

He continued his education in Rotterdam at the Willem de Kooning Academy.

Carolien van Olphen, 1971 | Figurative painter

Carolien van Olphen is a Dutch painter, born in Rotterdam.

She received her education at the Classical Art Academy in Groningen.

Carolien is a realistic portrait painter, a technical skilled artist.

She likes to dress-up her models in bright patterned dresses, silk ropes, fur coats etc.

Hans Versfelt, 1968 | Impressionist painter

Dutch painter Hans Versfelt is an Impressionist.

He goes out almost every day with a painting box. He records what he finds.

Versfelt was born in 1968 and currently resides in Breda.

Hans Versfelt started his studies at the Minerva Academy in Groningen but stopped after a year.

After a few years he studied again at the Academy for Art and Design St. Joost in Breda and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp.

René Jansen (1956-2022)

René Jansen was an Impressionist painter of portraits, still lifes and landscapes.

A great draftsman and painter, who shows stilled moments in an intense manner with a skilful and passionate play of light, color and form.

René Jansen has already established his name as a painter for a long time.

His famous still lifes are characterized by 'coincidentally setups'.

He prefers his compositions to emerge spontaneously and randomly.

Rein Pol, 1949 | Magic Realism

Rein Pol is a Dutch artist.

Appearances can be deceptive. Everyone knows that. Sometimes though, appearance and reality are so insidiously close together that they can hardly be separated.

The painter Rein Pol addresses this whimsical phenomenon of deceptive reality in paintings showing a peculiar mixture of facts and fiction.

In a number of Pol's paintings, the Blue Angel rumbles past.

Initially, this train roamed only the landscapes of Groningen.

Ronald Soeliman | Plein-air painter

Dutch artist Ronald Soeliman (1965-2020) used palette knives when he painted.

The oil paints are thickly applied to the canvas whereby the use of a palette knife gives extra textural feel to the surface.

Sometimes he uses palette knives to suggest small branches in the wet paint.

Often it seems as if he models the paint straight on the canvas itself.

Charles van Beveren | Romantic painter

Charles Van Beveren (1809-1850) was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the most important colorists of his time.

Charles van Beveren, was a portrait, history and genre painter of the Romantic period, who spent much of his life in Amsterdam.

He was born at Mechlin in 1809, and studied art at the academy of his native city and at Antwerp.

He settled in Amsterdam in 1830, subsequently visiting Paris, Rome, and other cities of Italy, and distinguished himself as a painter of history, genre and portraits.

Peter Hartwig, 1963 | Abstract painter

Peter Hartwig is a Dutch painter.

Hartwig studied at the Academie Minerva in Groningen, Netherlands.

He mainly works with oil-on-canvas in a figurative style with impressionistic paint strokes.

His work is based on direct observations, memories and elements from the fantasy world.

Vincent van Gogh's suicide letter

Vincent van Gogh was an influential artist during the nineteenth century.

Widely believed to have been struggling with depression and insanity, he went out to a nearby field and shot himself in the chest, before stumbling back to his house where his brother Theo cared for him for two days, before he finally died.

Although he had sent a letter to Theo only three days earlier, he was carrying another letter to his brother on his person at the time of his suicide, largely seen as a suicide note.

Van Gogh severed his own ear with a razor in 1888 | The Courtauld Gallery London

Vincent van Gogh | Studies of heads

Van Gogh considered the modern portrait to be the most important genre for painters.

"What I’m most passionate about, much more than all the rest in my profession - is the portrait, the modern portrait.

I seek it by way of colour, and am certainly not alone in seeking it in this way’, wrote Vincent to this sister Willemien in 1890.

Vincent van Gogh | Head of a woman | Van Gogh Museum

Vincent van Gogh inspires AI Art

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch post-Impressionist painter, 1853-1890) became famous after his suicide, aged 37, which followed years of poverty and mental illness.

Despite his tragic life, van Gogh’s exceptional talent and painting style continue to captivate art enthusiasts worldwide.

In an intriguing blend of van Gogh’s artistic legacy and cutting-edge AI technology, these images capture the essence of van Gogh’s characteristic brushstrokes, color palette, and emotive quality, paying homage to his genius while showcasing the potential of AI in art.

Tjalf Sparnaay, 1954 | Hyper Realistic paintings of food

Tjalf Sparnaay has been working on an innovative oeuvre since 1987, constantly seeking new images that had never been painted before.

His Megarealism is part of the contemporary international movement now known as Hyperrealism; he is now seen as one of the most important and trend-setting painters internationally in that style.

His artworks are displayed in collections all over the world and regularly exhibited outside the Netherlands, for instance in New York.

Hans Laagland, 1965 | Neo Baroque style

Hans Laagland was born in Koersel (Belgium) to Ludo Laagland, a professional painter.

His father trained Hans throughout his childhood.

At the age of ten, Hans completed his first oil painting and two years later held his first solo exhibition.

As he continued to develop his skills, he became enthralled with the works and techniques of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), and at fifteen he set out to study those masterful techniques.

Even Ulving | Nordic landscape painter

Even Christophersen Ulving (15 August 1863 - 3 August 1952) was a Norwegian painter.

Personal life

Ulving was born on 15 August 1863 in Vega, to Christopher Evensen and Olava Larsdatter.

He was married to Frederikke Johanne Knoff Quale.

Van Gogh's "Café Terrace at Night" was inspired by Maupassant's "Bel-Ami"

After finishing Café Terrace at Night, Vincent van Gogh wrote a letter to his sister expressing his enthusiasm:

"You never told me if you had read Guy de Maupassant’s Bel-Ami, and what you now think of his talent in general.

I say this because the beginning of Bel-Ami is precisely the description of a starry night in Paris, with the lighted cafés of the boulevard, and it's something like the same subject that I've painted just now". (Letter 678 from Vincent van Gogh to Wilhelmina van Gogh, Arles, 1888.)

Vincent van Gogh | Café Terrace at Night, 1888 | Kröller-Müller Museum, Netherlands

Matthijs Maris | Romantic / Symbolist painter

Matthias Maris (17 August 1839 - 22 August 1917) was a Dutch painter, etcher and lithographer. He was also known as Matthijs Maris or Thijs.

He initially belonged to the Hague School, like his two brothers, Jacob and Willem, but his later works deviated more and more from that school into a unique style influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites.

He was born in The Hague.

At the age of twelve, he registered at the Hague Academy of Art, but did not pass the entrance exam.

Therefore, he took lessons from Isaac Cornelis Elink Sterk, secretary of the academy.

Hubertus van Hove | Genre / Romantic painter

Hubertus (Huib) van Hove (13 May 1814, in The Hague - 14 November 1865 Antwerp) was a Dutch painter, the son of Bartholomeus van Hove (1790-1880) and a teacher of some artists who became members of the Hague School.

Hubertus or Huib van Hove was taught painting not only by his father, but also by Hendrik van de Sande Bakhuyzen.

Jacob Maris | The Hague School

Jacob Hendricus Maris (1837-1899) was a Dutch painter, who with his brothers Willem and Matthijs belonged to what has come to be known as the Hague School of painters.

He was considered to be the most important and influential Dutch landscape painter of the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

His first teacher was painter J.A.B. Stroebel who taught him the art of painting from 1849 to 1852.