BIOGRAPHY
Isabelle van Zeijl is an established mid-career and well collected international acclaimed artist. Recognized for her mastery to create striking self portraits with depth and meaning who enriches life, possessing lasting and impressionable depth and value.
Van Zeijl dips into the post-modern to craft a vision of feminine power that will have you questioning both historical and 21st-century concepts of beauty. Van Zeijl produces the scenes entirely independently, she is both model, creator, object and subject. Her work possesses a timeless beauty, transcending the boundaries of epoch and media.
As a women she experiences prejudices against women; misogyny in numerous ways including sex discrimination, belittling, violence against women and sexual objectification. “I asked myself what human being do I need to forge myself into, and how can I use my burden to bring light to make a change in the world? I decided to turn my eye to all that was beautiful around me." Van Zeijl aestheticizes these prejudices in her work to visually discuss this troubling dichotomy, presenting a new way of seeing female beauty, the reinvention of the self.
These ideas are also represented in The Rebirth of The Dutch Flower collection. This series of photographs using discarded flowers from her local growers, to highlight the unfortunate mass destruction during the world lockdown. But the enigmatic photographs are also a celebration of hope as they give the flowers new life by suggesting renewal, rebirth and reinvention. As Van Zeijl explains, “flowers grow out of dark moments, the more difficulties, the more beautiful they become, they always tend to grow towards the light.”
She invests in her images, by using subjects that intrigue and evoke emotion. For her Moonshot collection Van Zeijl was inspired by the deeper meaning of the horse, and decided to portray herself with them. For years she worked with horses. She learned to connect, listen deeply, embody their wisdom and experienced how horses guided her to reach toward a greater freedom. In order to gain the horse’s trust she had to evolve into complete surrender. Van Zeijl reinvents herself over and over and has created a body of work going beyond the realm of individual expression.
Her work soothes the eye and touches the soul, to encourage the viewer to reconnect with their own higher calling, their soulful longing. To remind them to deepen their courage and humility, empower self inquiry and ask themselves to reach into their soul for greatness and find that beauty is always there.
Van Zeijl has shown work continuously and internationally over the past seventeen years, represented by galleries located in The USA, UK and Europe, and exhibiting at established international art fairs in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, London, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Italy. She was one of the winners of The Young Masters Emerging Women Art Prize, London. Her work is held in The Four Seasons Hotel in Paris and in numerous & public collections in the USA, UK, Belgium, Germany, France and The Netherlands.
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Isabelle van Zeijl
Featured in selected press-
HARPER'S BAZAAR COVER
July 1, 2019MODES OF EXPRESSION The Dutch fine-art photographer Isabelle van Zeijl subverts oppressive ideals of female beauty with her striking self-portraits, in which she depicts herself in the context of paintings... -
Forbes
May 7, 2020The Rebirth Of The Dutch Flower, A New Series That Highlights The Plight Of The Flower Industry Preparing for one of the works in The Rebirth of the Dutch Flower,... -
Harper's Bazaar Talking Points
July 1, 2019LAYERS OF MEANING Isabelle van Zeijl's flamboyant photography goes on show at Mayfair Arty Weekend. Plus Francesca Segal's ode to the fearless women who sustain her, and the otherwordly genius... -
THE ART NEWSPAPER
April 30, 2020ART FOR A GOOD CAUSE The art market lies dormant, conspicuous consumption at a standstill. But artists-many of whom are experiencing steep drops in income-continue to make art in support... -
Snoecks '21
August 25, 2020ARTWORK - SHE IS HERE - ON THE COVER OF SNOECKS 2021 'A special Snoecks for special times, you should not expect less from Snoecks 2021. We opted for hope... -
The Telegraph, Picture of the day
June 25, 2019CAPTURE OF ARTIST ISABELLE VAN ZEIJL BY EDDIE MULHOLLAND FOR THE TELEGRAPH Photography Exhibition by Isabelle van Zeijl, presented by The Cynthia Corbett Gallery. Artist wearing the couture costume worn... -
London Live Television Interview
June 25, 2019Debut solo show for Isabelle van Zeijl In her debut solo show Isabelle van Zeijl presents her collection of self-portraits. As both the photographer and model, she draws inspiration from... -
Mutual Art
June 20, 2019IN A SEARINGLY HONEST AND EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW AHEAD OF HER FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION IN THE UK, ISABELLE VAN ZEIJL TELLS MUTUAL ART ABOUT HER JOURNEY OF TRANSFORMATION, AND HOW USING... -
Wall Street International Magazine
June 12, 2019In a contemporary art world that condemns beauty as camouflage for conceptual shallowness, championing high aesthetics is nothing short of rebellion. Van Zeijl takes female beauty ideals from the past,... -
Arts & Collections
June 21, 2019Isabelle van Zeijl's London Exhibition Merges Old Masters With Consumer Culture Dutch artist and photographer, Isabelle van Zeijl, who creates striking photographic self-portraits merging references from the Old Masters with...
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