Biography
Maria de Vries
Why is it that paintings of Maria de Vries are so incredibly popular? Those who want to answer this question will sooner or later have to address Maria and her work method.
The source of her art is without any doubt: her life art. The walks through live with her senses wide open. She allows herself to be moved by what her eyes see, and her hands feel.
She knows how to be moved and how to enjoy on the square meter. Whether it’s about people – young or old, in relation to each other or to the spectator, in rest or in action – about animals or nature in a broader sense, she always manages to be moved. And she stores these experiences, both the images and the associated emotions. She is constantly ‘charged’ and never has to go and look for what artists call ‘inspiration’. You could say that the charge she has developed inside, is constantly looking for a way out. She simply can’t live without paint and a brush.
It is interesting to see how she manages to translate her emotion into a play of colors, shapes and lines. The play begins neutral, but along the way, often to her own surprise, the intention reveals itself. She plays this game in an inviting and, at the same time, convincing manner. Countless of spectators immediately feel addressed, and turn from viewer to admirer on the spot.
With her rich palette, Maria invokes various emotions. The viewer experiences serenity, peace, quietness in a Peel landscape, but also the vibrant exuberance of an exotic feast, the tenderness that children invoke with their body language, the wonder about the early beauty of young women and, at the same time, the urge to protect them in their vulnerability.
It’s no wonder that Maria’s imagery is understood and appreciated far beyond the borders of our country. How great to find that, in all her success, she finds a way to be herself! And, moreover, to find that she is intensely thankful for the fact that she is allowed to use her extraordinary talent to contribute to the well-being of many.
Jacques Kruunenberg