Marja Van Kampen (b.1949)

I defy anyone not to be blown away by the explosion of colour in Marja Van Kampen's magical paintings. I have included only three of her fabulous expressionist works on this page, but you can find lots more across the website. Her range of hues and tones are so visually striking, both in terms of their direct impact and lingering effect, that one wonders why more Irish artists don't spice up their pictures with a dose of Van Kampenesque colour. Her compositional skills are no less obvious. The way she packs her canvases with a diverse range of bold and soft lines, to create maximum interest, is (in my experience) quite unique. Nothing jars. Each work's complex jigsaw of lines, images and colours holds together perfectly. It's Paul Gauguin meets the Fauvists meets Pablo Picasso (on a good day), and it leaves me breathless.

Moonlight Serenade. (acrylic on canvas)

Born in The Netherlands, Marja van Kampen graduated in fine art painting, printmaking and art history from the Akademie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Arnhem. After a spell as an art teacher she became a full time artist and spent 2 years painting in the South of France, moving to Ireland in 1982. An extensive traveller in Southern Europe and India, her art reflects both the exotic colours and shapes of these regions, as well as her personal sense of romance and wonder. She says that her works represent a kind of...

"visionary garden, vibrant, colourful and hopeful - encompassing symbolic elements which shape our lives"

In addition to her acrylics painting, Van Kampen specializes in limited edition silkscreen prints.

Rainbow City. (acrylic on canvas)

BEST IRISH ARTISTS 2009
For a list of the leading Irish
painters, including exponents of
expressionism, see:
Best Irish Artists.

Van Kampen is a co-founder of Artspace Studios, Galway and was a major force in its development, before setting up her own studio in Galway, in 1997. She was the Irish representative artist at the Aalborg Triennale in Denmark and participated in the International Art Project in Galway. She has exhibited her works throughout Ireland, Europe and even China. She has enjoyed solo shows in numerous prestigious galleries including: the Irish Museum of Modern Art, (IMMA), Dublin, Centre D’Art Azilien, France, Philine-Vogeler Haus, Worpswede, Germany, and Galway Arts Centre, among others. Recent or future shows include: Group exhibition, Central Bank, Dublin (2008) and a Solo exhibition at the Kenny Art Gallery, Galway (2009). Her works are on display at several venues, such as: Peppercanister Gallery, Dublin; Cherrylane Gallery, Greystones; Cat and Moon Gallery, Sligo; Kenny Art Gallery, Galway; Cong Art Gallery, Co. Mayo; and the Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin.

Her paintings and screenprints are represented in many different collections, including: The Arts Council of Ireland, Office of Public Works, Mayo County Council, Galway, Institute of Technology, Microsoft Irish Art Collection, Allied Irish Bank, the Radisson Hotel Collection, Crumlins Childrens Hospital, Dublin, the University College Hospital Galway Collection, Aalborg City Council, Denmark and others. Van Kampen has received several important awards, and in 2008 she received an Arts Council Travel Award to visit Museums and Galleries in New York.

Review written by Neil Collins (Editor) (Sept 2008).

More Irish Contemporary Painters, Sculptors, Photographers

Robin Atkinson (Landscape art) - Mark Baker (Portraits) - Emma Barone (Shoe art) - Julie Beckett (Impressionism) - John Brady (Expressionist) - Denise Cassidy (Colourist) - Karina Collins (Figurative) - Leo de Freyne (Landscape art) - Charmain Fitzgerald (Surrealistic) - Paul Kelly (Plein-air art) - Bernadette Kiely (Abstract) - Caroline Levis (Watercolours) - Bernadette MacCormick (Portraiture) - Pervaneh Matthews (Pet portraits) - Ellen McDermott (Figurative painting) - Zita McGarry Kelly (Expressionist) - Henry McGrane (Plein-air landscapes) - Barbara Monahan (Abstract landscapes) - John Morris (Waterscapes) - Chara Nagle (Subject painter) - Patrick Naughton (Fine art photography) - David Nolan (Portraits) - Megan O'Beirne (Holocaust art, photography) - Caoimhghin OCroidheain (Cityscapes) - Ursula Boylan O'Gara (Landscapes/portraits) - Tomas O'Maoldomhnaigh (Portraiture) - Eveleen Power (Landscape paintings) - James Quinn (Technological PCB art) - Anne Stahl (Abstract Landscape artist) - Mieke Vanmechelen (Expressionism) - Conor Walton (Classical oil painter) - Wood 'n' Icon Art Studio (Wood carving, Greek art)

• For more information about visual arts in Ireland, see: Irish Art: Painting and Sculpture.