HAARLEMSE KUNST SALON
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Adriaan de WolfAdriaan de Wolf (Groningen, 1986) lives and works in Amsterdam. He enjoys painting portraits, people, and figures. Within this field, he seeks to uncover vulnerability and, from that vulnerability, the strength that emerges in the subjects he places on canvas. His belief is that when you return to the essence of something, you arrive at a vulnerable point. If that vulnerability can be captured successfully on canvas, it also becomes possible to reveal strength or beauty through it. As a result, his works often convey a sense of stillness, with an underlying emotion that may not always be immediately visible on the surface.
His paintings are built upon a foundation of technique, composition, realism, and observation, creating a realistic image. He then further develops the work through influences of abstraction, mysticism, and blurring, ultimately creating a complete image and telling a story. Adriaan graduated from the Klassieke Academie (Classical Academy) in Groningen in 2020, after which he began working full-time as a painter in Amsterdam, both on commission and independently. Since then, his work has received national and international recognition, including winning works for the television programs Sterren op het Doek and De Nieuwe Vermeer, as well as finalist placements in the portrait competitions Figurativas and the Almenara Art Prize. |
All images © Adriaan de Wolf
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Edo FuijkschotEdo Fuijkschot (b. 1972) has been drawing his whole life: working as a freelance illustrator on comic and children’s books, and as an animator on four continents. He formed his earliest artistic inspiration growing up in the Netherlands, which in the mid 1970’s was a country obsessed with comic books. Upon moving to Australia to study Graphic Design at Swinburne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Edo pivoted to an 8-year career in the animation industry, including working on the hit animated series Lil’ Elvis and The Truckstoppers for the ABC network.
Edo has since embarked on a more global perspective, in what has become a twenty-plus year sojourn around the Earth. Upon being introduced to the world of contemporary classical art, Edo was fascinated and decided to fully immerse himself in all this artistic tradition had to teach. He completed rigorous full-time study online at Samsara Academy of Art (based in India) under the tuition of Ayuesh Agarwal, and graduated from the academy's core programme. Edo is currently based in the Netherlands, where he teaches academic figure drawing at the Dutch Atelier of Realist Art in Haarlem. His work is in private collections across four continents, and was recently recognised as a winning portraiture on the Dutch television show Sterren op het Doek. |
All images © Edo Fuijkschot
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Erik van ElvenErik van Elven is a full-time painter. He primarily paints figurative subjects in a realistic yet loose style. Still life and landscapes are recurring and much-loved themes in his work, in addition to painting commissioned portraits.
Erik's work has earned broad acclaim across the Netherlands. In 2016, Erik won the Haagsche Schooldag in Nieuwkoop, a plein-air painting event featuring thirty participating artists. The following year, he was voted by an online audience as the recipient of the Groene Hart Kunstprijs award. In 2019, Erik created a full-length portrait of Paralympic snowboarder Bibian Mentel for the Dutch TV program Sterren op het Doek. At the end of 2023, he was commissioned by the Tweede Kamer (parliamentary House of Representatives) to create a portrait drawing of departing Speaker of the House, Vera Bergkamp. In 2025, his work “De lachende man” (“The Laughing Man”) was a finalist in the Nederlandse Portretprijs. At the end of 2025, he held a solo exhibition at Museum Paul Tétar van Elven in Delft. Alongside his own painting practice, Erik also gives painting lessons and workshops in Zoeterwoude-Dorp at Atelier Xie. His work is regularly exhibited at Galerie Bonnard in Nuenen. |
All images © Erik van Elven
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Eva WientjesEva Wientjes (b. 1994) is a Dutch classical figurative painter based in Florence, Italy. Her work is the result of two desires: observing and depicting life as accurately as possible, and revealing the conflicting, emotional experience of being a human on this planet. She is aiming at making paintings that are timeless and universal and thus connecting the here and now with the past and the present.
She began her studies in 2020 at the Florence Academy of Art Sweden, where she was taught nineteenth century drawing- and painting techniques. After she graduated, she was hired as Principal Instructor at the same academy. In the winter of 2023, she continued her training through an apprenticeship with the Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum. Additionally, she completed a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Art History at the University of Groningen (2020) which contributed to her in-depth knowledge of historical paintings and classical techniques. Today, she works in her studio in Florence, Italy. |
All images © Eva Wientjes
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Francien KriegFrancien Krieg (b. 1973) is a Dutch artist. She studied at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague and at the Vrije Academie.
Her work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including MEAM, the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Museum Angewandte Kunst. Recent presentations took place in New York City, including at Superchief Gallery and James Baird Gallery. Her work is included in collections such as the ING Collection and the former Scheringa Collectie. |
All images © Francien Krieg
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Joke FrimaJoke Frima (b. 1952) is a Dutch artist who lives and works in France.
From 1976 to 1984, Joke lived in Italy, where she devoted herself to studying drawing and painting at Studio Simi in Florence. She returned to the Netherlands in 1985, where her individual artistic style began to take shape, and she developed her own visual language. She has lived in France since 1999, where her work has developed with even more freedom and space. Joke draws her subjects from the everyday beauty of nature; leaves fascinate her more than flowers. In her plant still lifes, she depicts nature, pristine and plundered by human hands.She seeks out everyday things, such as a patch of buttercups, a bunch of strawberries, or a dandelion. Thanks to a unique low perspective in her works (Joke herself seems almost to be lying in the grass) we the viewer are quickly immersed in these paintings, invited to create paths through the foliage. Through the abstract interplay of structure, light, and color, Joke manages to evoke rhythm, tranquility, balance, and mindfulness from an everyday subject. |
All images © Joke Frima
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Nard KwastNard Kwast (b. 1973) was born and raised in the northern part of the Netherlands. He lives and works in the Netherlands and Belgium. His drawing talent developed at a very young age, and as a teenager, he discovered his love for the Old Masters of the 17th century. Nard’s decision to take private lessons and pursue extensive self-study in classical oil painting techniques arose from a deep passion for these historic methods and materials.
Over the past decades, he has created his distinctive style, which references the 17th-century Masters and continues to evolve. He is constantly learning and enjoys sharing his knowledge through masterclasses. Alongside teaching, Nard is a highly sought-after contemporary artist whose expertise is characterized by a profound understanding of classical painting. He became known to a wider audience through the Dutch television programs Project Rembrandt, in which he was a finalist, and Het Geheim van de Meester, where he contributed to the life-sized reconstruction of The Night Watch at the Rijksmuseum. He also won the television program De Nieuwe Vermeer, in which he brought a lost painting by Johannes Vermeer to life, and was featured in an interview with The New York Times in 2023. In 2024, Nard also won the “Outstanding Technique Award” during the exhibition at the Salmagundi Club in New York City as part of the International Figure Painting Competition. His work can be found in private collections around the world. |
All images © Nard Kwast
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Sebastiaan GrootSebastiaan Groot is a Dutch figurative artist and art historian, who lives and works in Egmond aan den Hoef. He gained national recognition after winning Project Rembrandt in 2019.
Sebastiaan's work combines classical painting techniques with a contemporary and personal approach in which atmosphere, narrative, and psychology play a central role. Alongside his artistic practice, he studied art history at the University of Amsterdam and is active as both an artist and teacher.He studied art history at the University of Amsterdam, and in 2019, he was the winnter of Project Rembrandt. Sebastiaan gives lessons in drawing and painting in his atelier in Egmond aan den Hoef, and also paints portraits on commission. |
All images © Sebastiaan Groot
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Thomas LangeveldThomas Langeveld (b. Haarlem 1984) has been active as an artist for more than twenty years. From 2014 to 2017, he studied at the Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy, where he received rigorous classical training in figurative drawing and painting. Upon returning to the Netherlands, Langeveld co-founded the Dutch Academy of Realist Art (DARA) in Haarlem with Mischa Tranquilli, with the aim of passing on the tradition of classical realism to a new generation of artists.
Thomas's own works often unfold within a narrative context, imbued with a reflective, almost meditative stillness, a pause that invites contemplation. Travel has also played a central role in shaping his artistic vision. Journeys through several Far Eastern countries have provided a deep well of inspiration for his personal projects. While his repertoire is diverse, he currently focuses primarily on still life, landscapes, and narrative compositions. His art has been exhibited in solo and group shows across the Netherlands, Belgium, the United States, and Italy, and is held in private collections throughout Europe, North America, and Australia In 2018, Thomas was named a top-ten finalist in the juried exhibition of The Representational Art Conference (TRAC) in Leeuwarden. In 2023, he appeared as a guest painter on the Dutch television programme Sterren op het Doek, where he painted former professional football player Arjen Robben. In 2026, his work was a finalist in the Art Renewal Center's 17th International Salon. |
All images © Thomas Langeveld
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Yvonne HeemskerkYvonne Heemskerk is a Dutch painter from Voorhout, known for her figurative paintings that combine classical influences with personal expression. Her work is characterized by atmospheric lighting, strong female figures, and inspiration drawn from mythology and old masters such as Rembrandt, Caravaggio, and Waterhouse.
Alongside her own artistic practice, she gives painting lessons and workshops, where traditional painting techniques play a central role. She gained wider recognition through television programs such as Sterren op het Doek and De Nieuwe Vermeer, where her technical skill and passion for classical painting received considerable praise and national acclaim. With a painterly yet refined approach, Yvonne brings a contemporary sensitivity to traditional figurative art. In her own words: “My oil paintings reflect my experiences and the world as I perceive it. I hope to draw the viewer into these moving and mystical narratives about me, about you, about the present and all times, with love as the thread that connects them all.’’ |
All images © Yvonne Heemskerk
