Country: Netherlands 🇳🇱
Inspired by the 17th century masters, Marjan van Herpen photographs carefully lit still life compositions of a variety of flowers, vegetables and fruit. She works within an authentic Baroque style with exciting contrasts and remarkable use of light. Not only does she manage to record the objects on camera, but she also creates an image that you are pulled towards; a photograph which is surprising and lingers in your mind. During the final processing, Marjan adds layers to the photograph using a backdrop of textures of old walls which she captured on camera mainly whilst travelling on holiday. She calls this: “photographic painting”.
In Marjan’s work, as with the still life works of the 17th century Flemish-Dutch painters, the representation of the surface of objects is important. Marjan uses flowers, fruit and vegetables in her work, but does not let anything go to waste. “This weekend, we are eating a still life painting again” is often heard in her home.
You will often see tulips in Marjan’s work. The ubiquitous tulip was extremely popular in the 17th century and was often traded at exorbitant prices. During the so-called “Tulip Mania” around 1637, a bulb could fetch the same price as a house on a canal in one of the major cities in the Netherlands. In those times, the rare varieties such as exotic striped and colourful ones were particularly popular. Ironically, these beautiful colours were caused by a virus in the bulb. Marjan carefully decides on the form, size and colour of the objects she wants to use.
In her own words: “a still life is actually not that still. Any still life tells a story about life and is therefore very much alive. They make me curious; Who used the objects? Are these people still alive? Or are the objects extremely old? What were they used for and what story do they tell? Set together they seemingly stand still, but the way they are combined – in an unusual, exciting or special way – make them particularly lively. Sometimes they are of the same era, sometimes many years apart. I look for form, colour, material and composition. Sometimes I know which objects were traditionally set together, but mostly I don’t. What do the scratches, dents or bruises in the objects tell me? Where would a can, plate or vase be placed? All silent witnesses of a full life with a lively story. A still life is without doubt pretty much alive”.
In Marjan’s work, as with the still life works of the 17th century Flemish-Dutch painters, the representation of the surface of objects is important. Marjan uses flowers, fruit and vegetables in her work, but does not let anything go to waste. “This weekend, we are eating a still life painting again” is often heard in her home.
You will often see tulips in Marjan’s work. The ubiquitous tulip was extremely popular in the 17th century and was often traded at exorbitant prices. During the so-called “Tulip Mania” around 1637, a bulb could fetch the same price as a house on a canal in one of the major cities in the Netherlands. In those times, the rare varieties such as exotic striped and colourful ones were particularly popular. Ironically, these beautiful colours were caused by a virus in the bulb. Marjan carefully decides on the form, size and colour of the objects she wants to use.
In her own words: “a still life is actually not that still. Any still life tells a story about life and is therefore very much alive. They make me curious; Who used the objects? Are these people still alive? Or are the objects extremely old? What were they used for and what story do they tell? Set together they seemingly stand still, but the way they are combined – in an unusual, exciting or special way – make them particularly lively. Sometimes they are of the same era, sometimes many years apart. I look for form, colour, material and composition. Sometimes I know which objects were traditionally set together, but mostly I don’t. What do the scratches, dents or bruises in the objects tell me? Where would a can, plate or vase be placed? All silent witnesses of a full life with a lively story. A still life is without doubt pretty much alive”.