Mexican Party, Nancy van Overveldt.
By John Dunkelgrün.
Nancy van Overveldt (1930-2015) was born and raised in The Hague, where she graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts. In love with the endless possibilities of combining colors, she spent a year in Paris experimenting with coloration. At 22 she went to Mexico in search of new horizons.
There she was impressed by the magnificent colors found in nature, in buildings and in the arts. She loved the open spaces, the spiritualism of the indigenous peoples and the wonderful absurdity of the magic realism.
Van Overveldt loved the country so much, she stayed in Mexico for a full quarter of a century. During that time her work became truly Mexican, in subject matter and in the soft muted colors of her palet that are reminiscent of Orozco and some of the Oaxaqueño artists, especially in her painting of birds. This was recognised in being able to stage museum expositions, representation by major art galleries and her membership of the Artist’s Association of Mexico.
In 1976 she returned to the Netherlands, where she had to realign her work with a much smaller, much denser built-up and populated country. This she did by focussing on the ample skies of the Dutch landscapes and on trees and gardens. Later she settled in Lelystad, capital of the widest expanse of “new” land in the country, land reclaimed from the former Zuiderzee.
From the extensive collection she has left to her two daughters, her daughter Alejandra Saldaña, and cultural attaché Sandra Lopez have curated a wonderful and representative exhibition of her work at the Embassy of Mexico.
This exhibition can be seen until the middle of December by appointment through cultura@embamex.nl
