Renie Spoelstra (1974, Drachten) lives and works in Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Renie Spoelstra’s arduous process of drawing always begins with a journey. For close to a decade, she has travelled to coasts, lakes and forests throughout North America, Europe and Peru, looking for landscapes that evoke overwhelming existential feelings.
Spoelstra uses film footage as a starting point for her charcoal drawings. The suede like and velvety texture is achieved by the many layers of charcoal, which are skillfully positioned on top of each other to re-create an almost cinematographic scene.
Themes of intensity, secrecy, and mystery recur throughout Spoelstra’s work—there’s an alluring, mythic sense of place. Yet each piece carries a darker edge, hinting at something restless beneath the surface. By depicting landscapes threatened by climate change and human intervention, Spoelstra reveals that things aren’t always what they seem. Fleeing into nature is no longer straightforward.
Recently, she hiked across high Andean terrain on Indigenous‑owned land in Peru, spending time with Quechua communities. She sought to forge a profound connection between the landscape’s past and her own quest for answers around grief (after losing her sister) and the impermanence of existence.
In the summer of 2025, she will continue this approach by visiting Indigenous communities in northwestern Canada, walking and experiencing their land firsthand. Through these embodied travels, her art gains added depth—anchored in deep respect for the land’s history, its guardians, and humanity’s interconnected role in this living ecosystem.
Yet she doesn’t see her work as either activist or escapist. She prefers to dwell on the edge of contradiction, where poetic expressiveness leads and the experience unfolds on a psychological level, gradually resonating with the viewer.
Renie Spoelstra studied at St. Joost, Breda and at the Academie Minerva, Groningen. She has exhibited in the Netherlands and abroad, notably at institutions like the Louvre-Lens, Albertina Vienna, Musée National Luxembourg, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen Rotterdam, the Kunsthal Rotterdam, Museum Belvedere Heerenveen, Rijksmuseum Twenthe and Stedelijk Museum Schiedam. Her work is included in renowned collections such as the Centre Pompidou Paris, MACBA Barcelona, Collection Frac Picardie Amiens, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Centraal Museum Utrecht, Cobra Museum voor Moderne Kunst Amstelveen, Museum Voorlinden Wassenaar, the Guerlain Foundation Paris, De Nederlandsche Bank, Bouwfonds Collection, The National Collection of the Netherlands, Teylers Museum Haarlem, The Louis Dreyfus Family Collection NY, Superfood Collection London, De Ru Collection and many other (private) collections worldwide.
Multimedia links:
GalleryViewer Renie Spoelstra
GalleryViewer The Choice of… Nanne de Ru 2020
The show Nordic Noir 2020 at Ron Mandos Gallery on vimeo
Avro Kunstuur 07-09-2013 interview with art critic Hans den Hartog Jager at Rijks Museum Twenthe
The Gulf Between on Belgium TV 100% Cultuur with interview Renie Spoelstra