Mirjam Verhoeff

With a wide variety of subjects ranging from polo and driving to racing and hounds, Mirjam's work shows a unique ability to capture the feeling of movement and speed. Contrasting withthe apparent tranquillity of her own nature and peacefulness of her studio-home in the depths of rural Holland, her drawings explode with an energetic dynamism. This is further enhanced by the impressive scale of her work.

Mirjam Verhoeff studied in Holland at the Larense Vrije Academie and at the Slade School of Art in London. She studied further in Greece and Perugia. In 1970 she went to Vienna to visit the Spanish Riding School. The former director of the school, the late Colonel Hans Handler, offered her full facilities to work there. The result was an exhibition at the Albertina Museum of Vienna in September 1972 which marked the four hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the school.

Verhoeff has been a regular exhibitor, firstly at Fortescue Swann since 1975 and then at the Tryon Galleries. Claude Berry featured her as one of the noted contemporary painters in his book, 'The Racehorse in Twentieth Century Art' and two of her paintings were included in the Tryon Exhibition to mark the publication of the book in 1989. She has featured in further solo shows at the gallery in 1996, 2002, 2005 and 2006. Her highly detailed work has developed in recent years to a more contemporary, almost abstract series of images.