Conversations with Humboldt

Conversations with Humboldt, painting series inspired by Alexander von Humboldt’s life and dedicated to those among us who are living -or are on the way to- live truly in line with one’s potentials, passions, and talents. During my latest trip to Latin America I read a fascinating book “The invention of Nature”, written by Andrea Wulf, that revealed to me a whole new picture of Humboldt. I found my alter ego, the life and thoughts I felt so deeply but I had never dared to live.

 “There is a drive in me”, Humboldt wrote, “that often makes me feel as if I’m losing my mind”. He felt an inexplicable pull towards the unknown. He came to believe that imagination was as necessary as rational thought in order to understand the natural world. Nature must be experienced through feelings.

In order to get closer to Humboldt, I decided to spend a month in a camp house by the sea. I meditated intensely and tried to get visions of images that would best depict emotional states Humboldt experienced himself like yearning, restlessness, completeness, being free, and of your own free will. This self-reflection process allowed me to clarify artistic approach. I started everything from scratch; hand made rough linen canvases primed transparently, oil colours and bars, minimalist mostly abstract interventions with organic/natural sensations, animal/plant patterns incorporated in in simple, natural backgrounds. Each artwork is the whole deeply revived unit.