Bonnie Severien

Bonnie Severien (1978) born in Heerhugowaard and currently living and working in the Netherlands, graduated in 2007 from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.

She was nominated five times for the Royal Prize for Painting, and her paintings have been exhibited in the Royal Palace Amsterdam and the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, among others. 

Urban Nature

The Urban Nature paintings are inspired by 17th century Dutch flower still lifes and the works of Matisse with the beautiful patterns. The plants represent abundance, innocence and the organic world. Insects symbolize both life and transience. The self-designed, geometric patterns represent the man-made linear constructions and are related to De Stijl, Amsterdam School (Art Deco) and the Dutch Funnel Beaker culture.

Urban Nature Treasures

In addition to the success of the large Urban Nature paintings, there is now a new series of twelve canvases, called Urban Nature Treasures. For this series I was inspired by three movements from Dutch (art) history.

Firstly, the Drenthe Funnel Beaker Culture, in which earthenware pots with beautiful primitive patterns were made. Created by the first people to inhabit the Netherlands, some 4,000 years BC. Second, you can see the lush natural shapes of the Amsterdam School (Art Deco) and finally the geometric lines from De Stijl movement by Piet Mondrian.

These works of art are small treasures, contemporary with a link to the past. They have a size of 24x30 cm, and were created with the masking technique where every line, every leaf and every circle is taped, cut and painted.

Included in the collections of:

Fries Museum, Leeuwarden
DELA, Eindhoven
Océ - Canon Venlo
Houthoff Buruma, Amsterdam