modern art Archives

June 1, 2023 — Comments are off for this post.

Getting lost in the pale light

Marshes have a special appeal. Is it the calm water? The assumption that "the whole world" used to look like this, long ago? Or is it the many mysterious places among the reeds, where something may have been hiding?

In any case, what particularly attracts me is the pale light that often prevails through the mists, through the many light-colored grasses and reeds and through the large reflective surfaces.

Everything in a swamp seems thinner, fragile almost, untouchable….
At the same time, it is not difficult to feel part of the landscape. The silence absorbs you, the mists make you feel like you are floating above the water.

Below are three new works in my collections 'Flat Lands' and 'Digital Art'.
I made all three artworks by transforming photos that I made in the small and scenic nature reserve Overasseltse En Hatertse Vennen near the city of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

(Text continues below the images)

Dancing On The Water's Edge - Digitally transformed fine art photography - Dancing my lonely dance on the water’s edge, nobody here to disturb My silence — *Dancing On The Water's Edge*

Found Me A Place To Muse - Digitally transformed fine art photography - As I sit by the bank musing, the first light of morning gently clears the haze in my mind — *Found Me A Place To Muse*

Getting Lost In The Pale Light - Digitally transformed fine art photography - Marshes have a special appeal. Is it the calm water? The assumption that "the whole world" used to look like this? Or is it the many mysterious places among the reeds, where something may have been hiding? — *Getting Lost In The Pale Light*

General info on these artworks

These are digital artworks, printed with high-quality ink on museum-quality cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag® 308gsm). The works come in a limited edition of 10, signed and with a certificate of authenticity.

For these digitally transformed fine art photography artworks, I start with one or more photographs made by myself. After editing it in multiple process runs and in several layers by color manipulation and adding and editing multiple digital photographic effects. The result is a surrealistic atmosphere that touches me and tells the story I want to tell.

The photograph(s) I begin with has/have an impressionistic, surrealistic or abstract realist style, which is the basis for all my work.

Prints are available, ask for a quote or contact me through a message, or visit my Saatchi Art portfolio at the artwork pages

Digitally transformed fine art photography by © Jacob Berghoef

Published by Jacob Berghoef in Portfolio

December 31, 2022 — Comments are off for this post.

The First Light (2)

The first light
Slowly awakening trees,
for a brief moment
woven in liquid gold

'The First Light' is a new artwork in my collection 'Wavy Fields’.

The First Light - Trees in golden morning light - Digital artwork based on fine art photography by Jacob Berghoef

General info on this artwork

This is a digital artwork, printed with high-quality ink on museum-quality cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag® 308gsm). The work comes in a limited edition of 10, signed and with a certificate of authenticity.

For these artworks, I start with one or more photographs made by myself. I edit it in multiple process runs and in several layers by color manipulation and adding and editing multiple digital photographic effects. I do that until a surrealistic atmosphere is created that touches me and tells the story I want to tell.

The photograph(s) I begin with has/have an impressionistic, surrealistic or abstract realist style, which is the basis for all my work.

Prints are available, ask for a quote or contact me through a message. Prints are also available in my Saatchi Art portfolio at the artwork page

Published by Jacob Berghoef in Portfolio

Tags: dark, fine art photography, gold, impressionism, impressionistic digital art, impressionistic landscape, Impressionistic photography, jacob berghoef, light, modern art, morning, reflections, surrealism, surrealistic art, surrealistic digital art, surrealistic impressionism, surrealistic photography, trees, water

December 31, 2022 — Comments are off for this post.

Kissing The Clouds

Morning glow
The sun kisses the clouds
Blinded by the eye

A beautiful autumn morning. The sun appears on the horizon, its warm light kisses the clouds above the fields in Kobberø, Thy region, North Jutland, Denmark.

'Kissing The Clouds' is a new artwork in my collection 'Wavy Fields’.

Kissing The Clouds - A beautiful autumn morning. The sun appears on the horizon, its warm light kisses the clouds above the fields. - Digital artwork by Jacob Berghoef — Kissing The Clouds - Digital artwork by Jacob Berghoef

General info on this artwork

This is a digital artwork, printed with high-quality ink on museum-quality cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag® 308gsm). The work comes in a limited edition of 10, signed and with a certificate of authenticity.

For these artworks, I start with one or more photographs made by myself. I edit it in multiple process runs and in several layers by color manipulation and adding and editing multiple digital photographic effects. I do that until a surrealistic atmosphere is created that touches me and tells the story I want to tell.

The photograph(s) I begin with has/have an impressionistic, surrealistic or abstract realist style, which is the basis for all my work.

Prints are available, ask for a quote or contact me through a message. Prints are also available in my Saatchi Art portfolio at the artwork page

Published by Jacob Berghoef in Portfolio

October 7, 2022 — Comments are off for this post.

A Glimpse Of Flight

[...] When she wakes

she lifts the shade, impatient for a glimpse
of flight: a sparrow, a swallowtail—
something with wings she can memorize.

The above stanza is from Laura Ann Reed's poem "As Clouds Before the Wind", and inspired me to make this artwork.
Laura Ann is a poet from the US, her work particularly appeals to me. Moreover, she is a very inspiring woman; I am fortunate to have a regular email contact with her.
Read more about Laura Ann and enjoy some of her poems via this link to her website. The entire poem is below the image of the artwork.

'A Glimpse Of Flight' is an artwork in my collections 'Secret Places'.

Text continues below the image

A Glimpse Of Flight - "When she wakes she lifts the shade, impatient for a glimpse of flight: a sparrow, a swallowtail— something with wings she can memorize." Surrealistic impressionistic digital artwork by Jacob Berghoef — A Glimpse Of Flight

Laura Ann's poem:

As Clouds Before the Wind

There are borders toward which
she moves, although she can’t say
what galaxies they lie between.

Daily, she prepares for a parting
in the trees, waits for the window
hinge to break, the pane to crack

and fall. She’s ready for the wind
to fill her room. She has one foot
planted on another planet,

and in her sleep she yields naked
to the Eros of its magnetic field—
its ethereal embrace. When she wakes

she lifts the shade, impatient for a glimpse
of flight: a sparrow, a swallowtail—
something with wings she can memorize.

General info on this artwork

This is a digital artwork, printed with high-quality ink on museum-quality cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag® 308gsm). The work comes in a limited edition of 10, signed and with a certificate of authenticity.

For these artworks, I start with one or more photographs made by myself. I edit it in multiple process runs and in several layers by color manipulation and adding and editing multiple digital photographic effects. I do that until a surrealistic atmosphere is created that touches me and tells the story I want to tell.

The photograph(s) I begin with has/have an impressionistic, surrealistic or abstract realist style, which is the basis for all my work.

Prints are available, ask for a quote or contact me through a message. Prints are also available in my Saatchi Art portfolio at the artwork page

Published by Jacob Berghoef in Collaboration, Portfolio

October 4, 2022 — Comments are off for this post.

Drowned Earth: Swimming In Tears II

While trees cry
fish shed their tears
in endless waves

'Swimming In Tears II' is an artwork in my project 'Drowned Earth'.
In this project I show you how I see the earth of a century from now. A fusion of the forests and the oceans, with hopefully in the distant future a rich ecosystem that has managed to adapt to the new circumstances.

Will there still be room for humans in that world?
Yes, I think there will be. Will there also be room for consuming Western man? No, unless they learn to be one with nature again. It will take several generations before that happens. I sincerely wonder whether the generations of Western man who are now living on earth will be able to bring about this transformation. More time is needed for that, I fear....

General info on this artwork

This is a digital artwork, printed with high-quality ink on museum-quality cotton paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag® 308gsm). The work comes in a limited edition of 10, signed and with a certificate of authenticity.

For these artworks, I start with one or more photographs made by myself. I edit it in multiple process runs and in several layers by color manipulation and adding and editing multiple digital photographic effects. I do that until a surrealistic atmosphere is created that touches me and tells the story I want to tell.

The photograph(s) I begin with has/have an impressionistic, surrealistic or abstract realist style, which is the basis for all my work.

Prints are available, ask for a quote or contact me through a message. Prints are also available in my Saatchi Art portfolio at the artwork page

Published by Jacob Berghoef in Portfolio

Tags: abstract photography, abstract realism, abstract surrealism, climate action, climate art, climate crisis, climate emergency, dark, drowned earth, fine art photography, jacob berghoef, less, light, modern art, pure, surrealism, surrealistic art, surrealistic impressionism, swimming in tears

August 22, 2022 — Comments are off for this post.

Right To Fly

I have the right to fly
To grow, to prosper
The right to be
To raise offspring
To feed you and others
To be fed myself
Who defends our rights?

Does a human being have more right to a clean earth and a safe and healthy life than a bird, a tree, a flower?

If your answer to this is "Yes," then why?

Hasn't that human being forfeited that right by polluting the earth, by risking his health through bad eating habits and by using year after year more than what the earth can provide?

Does a Western person have as much right to it as a person in a developing country who has never been guilty of that unbridled consuming, polluting and unhealthy behavior?

Right or Favor?

Do I have a RIGHT to live in a healthy environment? Or is life a FAVOR of nature, which I may enjoy as long as I behave nicely and don't make a mess of my body and my surroundings, and that of people around me and people far away?

I can get terribly irritated by the cries of Western people about their rights. Right to clean air, right to clean water, right to healthy food, right to... In my opinion, we in the 'developed countries' have long since forfeited all our environmental rights, and yet we continue as if the amount of available rights for us can never be exhausted.

Wake up, it's long run out. There is no clean water anymore, no clean air, no clean fertile land. Your rights, my rights, they all stop, where and when we abuse the rights of nature.

We spoiled children, we must earn our rights for today and tomorrow and the rights of humanity in the future. By sustainable living, by consuming significantly less, by cleaning up what we ourselves have polluted.

Right To Fly - I have the right to fly To grow, to prosper The right to be To raise offspring To feed you and others To be fed myself Who defends our rights? Surrealistic digital art, based on fine art nature photography by Jacob Berghoef — Right To Fly

'Right To Fly' is a new digital artwork in my collections 'Stray Birds' and 'Digital Art'.

Prints are available, ask for a quote or contact me through a message. Prints are also available in my Saatchi Art portfolio at the artwork page.

Through my artworks I ask you to reflect for a moment on the nature around you, on the beautiful feeling that nature can evoke, on what we lose when we continue on the destructive path of ever more…

Published by Jacob Berghoef in Portfolio

Tags: abstract realism, dark, digital art, favor, fine art photography, jacob berghoef, less, light, modern art, pure, right, surrealism, surrealistic art, surrealistic impressionism

August 15, 2022 — Comments are off for this post.

Wandering Dreams

Dreams wander
between the trees,
waiting, longing
to be reborn as
common sense
in a new time

Many people dream of an earth that is safe and clean, that is treated with care so that it can give enough to all its inhabitants without becoming exhausted.
Only when all those dreams come to life in common sense and people take action to live differently will that dream become a reality.

Do you ever dream about that too? And what did you do today to make those dreams come alive?

I washed myself this morning with cold water, yesterday I grabbed my bike to go shopping. Then I covered a section of the vegetable garden where the harvest is finished with a layer of shredded garden waste. As food for the new sowing season next year, to cover the soil in its resting period against drying out and prevent the growth of too many weeds...

Wandering Dreams - Many people dream of an earth that is safe and clean, that is treated with care so that it can give enough to all its inhabitants without becoming exhausted. Only when all those dreams come to life in common sense and people take action to live differently will that dream become a reality. - Surrealistic digital artwork by Jacob Berghoef — Wandering Dreams

'Wandering Dreams' is a new digital artwork in my collections 'Secret Places' and 'Digital Art’↗️.

This digital artwork was created through a collaboration with Janet Akselrud↗️, here is her website↗️.
She generously gave me permission to use one of her digital artworks.
Thank you Janet, I hope you like the result !

Prints are available, ask for a quote or contact me through a message. Prints are also available in my Saatchi Art portfolio at the artwork page↗️.

Through my artworks I ask you to reflect for a moment on the nature around you, on the beautiful feeling that nature can evoke, on what we lose when we continue on the destructive path of ever more…

Published by Jacob Berghoef in Portfolio

Tags: abstract realism, clean earth, dark, dreams, ecocide, fine art photography, jacob berghoef, less, light, modern art, pure, surrealism, surrealistic art, surrealistic impressionism, wandering

August 8, 2022 — Comments are off for this post.

Harvest Dance

Sun and rain have done their work
Barnacle geese dance above the fields
The harvest has begun

August heralds the beginning of the harvest season. In practice, we have been harvesting in our vegetable and fruit garden for several weeks, but the farmers around us are now gradually beginning to harvest the crops as well.

It feels to me like the beginning of the end of the growing season. It is not yet autumn, or in my words, nature's rest period has not yet begun; in fact, it is the busiest time of year for food-growing humans. But nature's task is almost over for this growing season, the fruits can be picked.

And in recent days we have seen the first flights of geese pass by, shuttling back and forth between the nature reserve where they spend the night, and the fields where harvesting has taken place, feeding on the scraps left by the harvesters.

Have they sensed that harvest time is beginning, and there is plenty of food for them?
I think so...

Harvest Dance - Sun and rain have done their work Barnacle geese dance above the fields The harvest has begun - Surrealistic impressionistic landscape digital art by Jacob Berghoef — Harvest Dance

'Harvest Dance' is a new digital artwork in my collection 'Wavy Fields'.
The photo of the fields in front of or house, which is the basis for this work, is made by Anuscka.

Prints are available, ask for a quote or contact me through a message. Prints are also available in my Saatchi Art portfolio at the artwork page.

Through my artworks I ask you to reflect for a moment on the nature around you, on the beautiful feeling that nature can evoke, on what we lose when we continue on the destructive path of ever more…

Published by Jacob Berghoef in Portfolio

Tags: abstract photography, abstract realism, barnacle geese, dance, dark, digital art, fine art photography, geese, harvest, jacob berghoef, less, light, modern art, pure, surrealism, surrealistic art, surrealistic impressionism

July 25, 2022 — Comments are off for this post.

Autumn Sea

An autumn walk on the beach of Schiermonnikoog, one of the Wadden Islands on the north coast of the Netherlands. The weather is stormy, the waves break with large foam heads.

A digital painting, made of a photograph I made in 2011 on the beach of the island Schiermonnikoog, the Netherlands.
Three digital layers melted together. Each of them ach with the same photo, two of them edited with color and texture, one with the original photo.

Autumn Sea - A digital painting, made of a photograph I made in 2011 on the beach of the island Schiermonnikoog, the Netherlands. - Digital painting by Jacob Berghoef — Autumn Sea

This is a digital artwork, available as archival pigment print. Printed with high-quality ink on museum-quality, acid-free cotton/rag paper (Hahnemühle Photo Rag® Ultra Smooth 305 g/sqm). The work comes as a Limited Edition of 10, signed and with a certificate of authenticity.

For these artworks, I start with one or more photographs made by myself. I edit it in multiple process runs and in several layers by color manipulation and adding and editing multiple digital photographic effects. I work on it until a surrealistic atmosphere is created that touches me and tells the story I want to tell.

The photograph(s) I begin with has/have an impressionistic, abstract or abstract realist style, which is the basis for all my work.

Prints are available, ask for a quote or contact me through a message. Prints are also available in my Saatchi Art portfolio at the artwork page.

Through my artworks I ask you to reflect for a moment on the nature around you, on the beautiful feeling that nature can evoke, on what we lose when we continue on the destructive path of ever more…

Published by Jacob Berghoef in Portfolio

Tags: autumn, dark, digital art, digital painting, impressionism, jacob berghoef, less, light, modern art, ocean, painting, pure, Schier, Schiermonnikoog, storm, surrealistic art, surrealistic impressionism

July 18, 2022 — Comments are off for this post.

Summer Evening At The Pond

I sit on a stone,
on the east side of the pond

Staring at the water,
waiting.
Nobody understands why

All I want is to see how
the setting sun colors the flowers
in the ripples
of a summer breeze.

Summer Evening At The Pond - See the evening sun color the flowers, reflecting in the rippling water of the pond - Surrealistic digital artwork by Jacob Berghoef — Summer Evening At The Pond

'Summer Evening At The Pond' is a new digital artwork in my collections 'Secret Places' and 'Digital Art'.

Prints are available, ask for a quote or contact me through a message. Prints are also available in my Saatchi Art portfolio at the artwork page↗️.

Through my artworks I ask you to reflect for a moment on the nature around you, on the beautiful feeling that nature can evoke, on what we lose when we continue on the destructive path of ever more…

Published by Jacob Berghoef in Portfolio