The Sunday Mail
Tendai Chara
“I paint what I feel, I paint what my colours tell me. My painting comes straight out of my heart and feeling.”
These are the words of Inge E Gijzen, a renowned painter whose impressive arts catalogue is currently on display at Lush Restaurant in Harare.
Since 2017, she has exhibited at several venues in Harare.
A Dutch national with Indonesian roots, she is married to a diplomat and as a result of her husband’s work, she has lived and travelled across the globe.
These travels, to a greater extent, influence her work.
“My work, although spontaneous, is inspired by experiences in different environments and different places in the world, which is my main source of creativity to get a unique vivid touch in colour and strokes on the canvas.”
Inge boasts a vast collection of paintings, with the majority of them being in storage since she cannot do big exhibitions due to the Covid-19 regulations.
Serious art lovers are, however, are visiting her home for private viewings.
In her work, she touches on women’s issues, education, water, environment and other social issues that are relevant to her portfolio.
Inge, who has lived and painted in Tanzania, is inspired by Monet painting technique and is a big fan of Picasso, Van Gogh and Gauguin.
Going through her works, it is abundantly clear that she exhibits colourful and unique paintings.
Apart from holding several exhibitions in Zimbabwe, she has also done group and solo exhibitions in a number of countries, among them Indonesia.
She lived and painted in Tanzania for five years and in Colombia and Bangladesh.
One of her illustrious paintings is titled “Sexy Red Lips” a limited edition piece from her 2012 collection titled “Unique Faces”.
An arts critic wrote that in the “Unique Faces” collection, Inge “paints with feeling, and with what the colours tell her, coming straight from the heart.”
Her 2013 exhibition titled “Grande Dame Faces the World”, which was held in Indonesia, attracted rave reviews.
Besides being a productive artist, Inge understands the need to give back and has developed philanthropic pursuits enabling her to share her gifts with the less fortunate.
In 2012, she donated a piece for charity to the Somaly Mam Foundation’s charity gala as she honoured the American foundation’s efforts against human trafficking.
Inge’s favourite quote is by Anne Frank: “No one has ever become poor by giving.”
Frank was a German-Dutch diarist and a Jewish victim of the Holocaust.
