Marion van Nieuwpoort - lithograph 20/100, signed lower right

Marion (1950–2008) was born on the outskirts of The Hague, where the new estates of the Royal Family ended and abruptly transitioned into the empty space of meadows, ditches, and willow bushes. This is where her love of nature stems from. She was an outdoorsy child, preferring to play with the animals at the Zuiderpark petting zoo than inside with a doll's pram. She learned art at her father's knee. He was a painter and created paintings for the facade of the Metropole Theater, which served as advertisements for the films being shown. She could gape in admiration at his monumental pieces, each over 10 square meters in size, which depicted dramatic film fragments in the background and the larger-than-life portraits of the main characters as eye-catchers. Her father was her early role model. In his profession as a painter, which fascinated her from an early age, he displayed an innate flair for decoration that he gladly shared with his daughter. Her profession meant that there were painting materials everywhere at home, and her parents never objected to her using them. From her earliest memories, she was busy with pencil, paint, and paper. She was playing outside in nature, or drawing at home. At school, she always took drawing lessons seriously, not because she was so obedient, but because she loved it. She always felt she was born to be a painter. Art school was an obvious step on the path to painting.
At 23, she entered the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. She completed her studies at 28. Even before attending the academy, in the period after secondary school, she took drawing lessons with the painter Poen de Wijs. Her time at the academy was important for Marion van Nieuwpoort. She looks back on it with satisfaction. From her mentor, the Rotterdam painter Rien Bout, she learned to incorporate the surroundings into her subject, making the background as functional as the foreground, and to have a keen eye for the overall picture. Color plays a significant role in her work. She is a thoroughbred colorist. Her work "breathes color." It makes her work come alive, just as oxygen fills the lungs and replenishes the blood. Rien Bout influenced her play with color and her use of the countless variations of the color palette. The painter Hermanus Berserik also played a role in her development. From him, she learned the function of structure, arrangement, and composition. These are important elements for a painter like Marion van Nieuwpoort, who wants to express her sense of movement, dynamism and passionate style, but is bound by the straitjacket of the two-dimensionality of the canvas.
Marion can proudly say that she has turned her innate passion—painting—into her profession. A profession to which she has dedicated herself. From experience, Marion knows that people often misunderstand her working methods. Contrary to popular belief, she doesn't simply throw paint on the canvas and finish a painting in a few days. Creating a piece was a time-consuming process. Every line is planned and carefully drawn. The themes of Marion's paintings are diverse, but they all address important aspects of her life. Since her childhood, the sea has held a strong fascination for her. The panorama, the coast, the sound of rolling waves, the salty air, seagulls flying overhead—all these inspired her to create a series of seascapes. Her love of animals is also reflected in her paintings. With great sensitivity, she captures not only the essence of a cat, a dog, or a pigeon, but also of a buffalo, a lion, or a cheetah. Since her travels to Kenya with her husband, Poen de Wijs, wild animals have often been central to her work. And then there's dance. Marion danced herself; this subject captivated her. This form of expression, important in all cultures, is passionately depicted by her in paintings of dancing Massai and Western prima ballerinas. Living as an independent painter, traveling to distant lands, exhibiting and selling paintings—that was more than Marion had dreamed of when she left the academy. Years later, while driving a jeep across the Kenyan savannah, she realized her dream had come true. Through enjoyable but incredibly hard work, she had achieved the seemingly unattainable. Marion van Nieuwpoort, born in The Hague in 1950 and died of cancer in 2008. Artists have a special privilege: they are immortal. Their spirit will live on forever in the work they leave behind in this world.