Annemarie de Groot started her career after she graduated from the Academy of Arts ‘Minerva’ in Groningen. All her life she has been fascinated by circus, theatre, cabaret and festivals, and obviously is often found back in her work, with clownish figures, animals and ballerinas. The fact that she nearly always pictures musical instruments in her paintings links up wonderfully well with her work for the Haydn Youth String Orchestra. ‘Musical instruments create a certain atmosphere. I like working with nostalgic, theatric elements, somewhat in the sphere of the twenties.’ Annemarie reacts – thank goodness – happily on the remark that her paintings come over very cheerful at first, but subsequently make someone melancholy. ‘That is just what I mean to do. People ask me sometimes why I only make cheerful paintings. But I don’t. I paint the symbolism of the exterior.’ She explains: ‘All people play a role. It seems a cheerful world, but behind the screen different scenes are enacted. When as a child I went to the circus I already saw things differently than just how they appeared to be. It has to do with the reality of life. And I like to paint just that.’
Apart from circus-like pictures Annemarie paints nudes, landscapes and still lifes. She defines her style as expressionism. She made triptychs for the musicals of Joop van den Ende. Triptychs from the musical ‘The Phantom of the Opera’, originally measuring two by two meters, are depicted on the Haydn Youth Orchestra-CD of 1999 and the baroque-CD. Although she prefers to paint on large canvasses, she also makes smaller paintings.
Annemarie gets orders from the trade and industry, both for paintings to embellish offices as for designing packages and wine labels. From 1997 she also organizes painting workshops for companies. She has given a painting course on Teleac (TV), filmed in her own studio.
Annemarie has already exhibited in New York, Sweden, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. For those interested, appointments can be made to visit her own exhibition room at the Ossenmarkt in Groningen.
Dutch text
Annemarie de Groot studeerde in 1978 af aan de kunstacademie Minerva in Groningen. Enkele jaren later volgde ze de Oskar Kokoschka-acadmie in Salzburg.
Sinds haar jeugd is ze gefascineerd door de wereld van het circus, theater, opera en cabaret. We vinden deze thema’s regelmatig in haar werk terug. Ballerina’s, muzikanten, cabaretske figuren, dieren; ze zijn in een bonte kleurenpracht op haar doeken te zien, geschildert in een wervelende toets laag over laag.
Tevens drukt ze de symbolen van het leven uit, ze worden op een subtiele manier weergegeven zoals de gevoelens in relaties die mensen met elkaar hebben en niet meteen zichtbaar zijn.
Recent heft zij zich laten inspireren door de opera Madame Butterfly van Puccini. Het drieluik verlevendigt de entreehal van het Martini-Plazatheater. Het werk is geschilderd in basale kleuren. Het schilderij verbeeldt een wereld van tegenstellingen: enerzijds de sfeer van romantiek en de ingetogenheid van de hoofdfiguur; anderzijds verdriet en pijn veroorzaakt door verworpen te zijn. Dit pictorale werk is een manifestatie van haar meesterschap in de verbeelding van de expressie van het menselijke gelaat.