1978

Isabelle van Zeijl is an established mid-career, internationally acclaimed artist. Recognized for her mastery in creating striking self-portraits that elevate the human spirit. Her works possess lasting depth and meaning, enriching life and leaving a profound, impressionable impact on viewers while pushing the boundaries of traditional concepts of the self, beauty, and femininity.

At the heart of van Zeijl’s art is the reinvention of the self—a process she undertakes with each image. Drawing from both modern and historical aesthetics, she subverts conventional ideals of beauty, using her own image as a canvas to engage in a timeless conversation between the past and the present. Her photographs resonate with a deep, introspective quality, evoking the fluid nature of identity as it evolves through personal experience and cultural shifts. Her images are both intimate and universal, offering glimpses of the self that are vulnerable yet strong, masked yet authentic. Van Zeijl’s work is an artistic exploration of the self in all its complexity, reflecting the ways in which we construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct our own identities.

She dips into the post-modern to craft a vision of feminine power that questions both historical and 21st-century concepts of beauty. By embodying both object and creator, she not only creates the images but inhabits them. Van Zeijl blurs the boundaries between observer and observed, subverting conventional expectations and offering a fresh lens through which to view femininity and the self. Her work possesses a timeless beauty, transcending the boundaries of epoch and media.

In a contemporary art world that condemns beauty as camouflage for conceptual shallowness, championing high aesthetics is nothing short of rebellion. For van Zeijl, beauty is not just an aesthetic choice but a healing force. A powerful medium for elevating the human spirit. Beauty profoundly influences both mental and physical well-being.

Her work soothes the eye and touches the soul, collectors often describe her work as a source of peace, strength, and healing. Her work encourages 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 to reconnect them with their voice.

Van Zeijl’s work has been exhibited internationally for over twenty years in prestigious galleries across the USA, UK, and Europe. She has participated in established art fairs in New York, Miami, Palm Beach, London, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Singapore, Hong Kong, and beyond. She is the winner of the Young Masters Emerging Women Art Prize in London. Her work is included in prominent public and private collections worldwide, such as The Four Seasons Hotel in Paris, The White Elephant Hotel on Nantucket, and The Boca Raton Resort in Florida.