www.kunstnel.nl

Internet exposition: the art of Nel Egberts

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Nel Egberts devoted her life to her art. She was a graduate of the Minerva Academy in Groningen, the Netherlands with a degree in autonomous art. Her enormous oeuvre encompasses water colours, drawings, acrylic paintings on canvas, acrylic paintings on paper, felt-tip pen works, embroidery compositions, embroidered jewelry and knitted works.

Nel Egberts worked totally alone - anonymously and in silence. Many of her works were not signed. For her it was about the art, not the artist.

Inspiration
As is the case for many artists, nature was a huge source of inspiration. She often took long walks in her beloved Northern Drenthe. She used her observations of the natural world to give form to her work; sometimes in a realistic manner but often translated into structures and patterns. Flowers, landscapes and skies appear in many of her works. She made an in-depth study of colour theories and also delved into studies on the relationship between spatial forms and the laws of mathematics. She studied, among other things, systems that bring about spatial harmony such as the golden ratio. Her studies of geometric shapes form the basis of much of her abstract work. Some of the artists she admired were Schoonhoven, Mondriaan, Esscher and Dürer.

Development and characteristics
Some of Nel Egberts’ work is characterized by a linear structure. She varied the thickness of the lines or the gaps between them. Horizontal and vertical lines are sometimes interrupted by diagonal or zigzag lines. The meander, an infinitely continuous line, also plays a part in her art.
Patterns appear in her work through links between the upper and lower layers, Lines shift, are slightly altered, curve away then become tangled with others. This is especially visible in the works with intertwinements and labyrinthine knot patterns. The mathematically influenced forms command an increasingly larger part of her work. Following precise calculations, works were composed with circles, trapeziums, cubes and all possible polygonal shapes such as the enneagon. These forms are often combined with colour shifts.

Themes
Characteristic for her work is the subtle movement – movement through a changing line, a diagonal, an intertwinement, a labyrinth, a spiral or a knotted pattern. Thus, movement and change can be seen as a theme throughout her works. Her ultimate goal was the golden mean: balance, harmony. Her work displays a strong contemplative character.