Saudade: Esther Nienhuis

The Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery will be showing seven new works by the Dutch artist, Esther Nienhuis. They form part of her acclaimed and ongoing Saudade series. 

Saudade - the title of many of Nienhuis’ paintings - is a Portuguese word that lacks a direct English translation. It suggests, though, a yearning for a world (remembered or imaginary) that is permanently just beyond our reach. This underlying sense of nostalgic longing is the recurrent mood of Nienhuis’ exquisitely-executed work. 

In these new paintings, the boundary between the present and those alternative sought-after realities is represented by the deceptive barrier of a rain-flecked windscreen. The road-scapes beyond seem a tantalisingly fixed point in the flow of life and movement, half obscured and half revealed. Although at first glance these hauntingly beautiful images might look almost like photographs, they soon reveal their true painterly origins. Nienhuis works in oil, on linen, with a delicate precision that reflects the subtlety of vision.

Esther Nienhuis studied Fine Art at the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten (Royal Academy of Art) in The Hague. In 2011 she was awarded the prestigious Gasunie Kunstprijs. She has exhibited globally over the past two and a half decades.