Maria  van  Raalten

Painting is for me the most important way to express myself.
I played piano for many years; both playing and listening profoundly affected my creative life as a visual artist.
However, I stopped playing a number of years ago to concentrate on my painting. Tangible subjects are the basis of my paintings, which could be a still-life, a landscape or a portrait of someone I know. Portraits are my passion, because I love my friends; my paintings of them are a means of communicating with them, and accessing their inner life.
A modern expressive style of painting, using most of the time oil colours, is what I prefer. It may be clear that the way I paint is derived from the expressionists from last century - yet instead of looking for the universal, I wish to elicit the personal, particular, intimate.

On this website a survey of recent work.

Previous exhibitions:

1992 may galerie g32 semily (tsjechië)
1992 june museum stare hrady (tsjechië)
1992 august arstudio galerie jicin (tsjechië)
1992 september museum sobotka (tsjechië)
1993 may town museum semily (tsjechië)
1994 may galerie m vrchlabi (tsjechië)
1995 may and june openbare bibliotheek groningen
1997 april and may openbare bibliotheek amsterdam btv
2002 july and august galerie pietershuis (theo swagemakers museum) - haarlem
2003 july and august galerie de witte kamer - delden (ov)
2004 november till april 2005 headoffice daily newspaper de telegraaf - amsterdam
2006 august and september boven 't ij hospital - amsterdam
2008 february De Waag - haarlem
2008 june till august restaurant jagershuis - ouderkerk a/d amstel
2009 july and august De Waag and townhall heemstede
2010 april Raadhuis Heemstede
2010 july/august Kloostergangen Haarlem
2010 november/december De Waag Haarlem
2011 january/february galerie Het Kunstbedrijf Heemstede
2011 Kunst Jaarbeurs Amsterdam
2011 march/may Van Ooijen Haarlem
2011 Stichting Kunstweek Den Haag
2012 Galerie 49 Boskoop
2012 Kunst Jaarbeurs Amsterdam
2012 Ontdek de Kunst van Zuid Amsterdam
2012 Hilton Amsterdam
2013 De Coenen Amsterdam
2014 Ontdek de Kunst van Zuid Amsterdam
2015 Hilton Schiphol
2015 Hilton München
2015 Hilton Innsbruck

address: Honingen 1, 1083 JP Amsterdam tel:0031 206 449 396
e-mail: maria@raalten.com