DieDie Arbeiterin series | untitled 2020 egg-tempera on linen 90 x 120 cm available
untitled 2020 egg-tempera on linen 150 x 95 cm available
untitled 2022 egg-tempera on linen 24 x 18 cm available
untitled 2022 egg-tempera on linen 24 x 18 cm sold
untitled 2022 egg-tempera on linen 24 x 18 cm available
open studio view van gogh air zundert netherlands
untitled 2022 egg-tempera on linen 24 x 30 cm available
untitled 2022 egg-tempera on linen 24 x 30 cm available
open studio view van gogh air zundert netherlands
open studio view van gogh air zundert netherlands
untitled 2019 egg-tempera on linen 150 x 100 cm available
untitled 2019 egg-tempera on linen 150 x 70 cm available
untitled 2019 egg-tempera on linen 150 x 100 cm available
exhibition view keik groningen netherlands
exhibition view keik groningen netherlands
untitled 2019 egg-tempera on linen 150 x 90 cm available
untitled 2019 egg-tempera on linen 150 x 70 cm available
untitled 2019 egg-tempera on linen 90 x 90 cm available
exhibition view keik groningen netherlands
untitled 2019 egg-tempera on linen 150 x 55 cm available
Die Arbeiterin series
'Der Arbeiter tanzt nicht, der Arbeiter arbeitet'
Kowalski | phrase from the song Der Arbeiter | 1983
This phrase resonates throughout my work, echoing the tension between movement and restriction, visibility and labour. In my artistic practice, I focus on women and the feminine as central subjects, exploring universal and existential questions of what the female can mean.
The Die Arbeiterin series emerged from this inquiry, shaped by the historical layers of place and labour I encountered during my three-month residency at Internationales Sommeratelier Aschersleben, as well as previous residencies in Germany where I worked in former industrial buildings. These environments, once filled with the repetitive gestures of production, now serve as silent witnesses to the invisible work of women—past and imagined.
The most recent small paintings in the series were created at Van Gogh AiR in Zundert, in Studio De Moeren. Following in Van Gogh’s footsteps, I was particularly drawn to his depictions of rural life: the hunched backs of peasant women engaged in diligent labour—digging, sowing, harvesting, collecting potatoes. Their gestures echo across time, still speaking in muted tones of perseverance and care.
'The woman shows her diligent work on the canvas. As she works at the edges and corners of the painting with her tools, she seems to be touching the creator, the artist, at the boundary of the canvas.
It is like a glimpse into an encounter taking place, where both the imagined woman and the imagining woman are at work.'Maritsa van Luttikhuizen | artist | 2021
In the short film below—recorded during the exhibition A Woman SISSA (November 2021)—I speak about Die Arbeiterinnen and the invisible presence of these working women who inhabit my paintings.