Ernst Nagel, born in 1944, had a life-long career in the publishing industry until his retirement sparked a rediscovery for his teenage love: painting. Now, the self-described “reborn painter” works in high volumes, having produced almost 1000 landscapes over his art career.

Nagel identifies his work with abstract-impressionism; minimalistic to the extent that his land and sea scapes are at times more appropriately “no-scapes at all.” Nature’s design becomes little more than a frenzied stroke of the brush on Nagel’s canvas. He finds satisfaction in the gaps of bare canvas between planes of colours, and prefers colours to be laid next to each other rather than on top.

Nagel uses acrylic, gouache, aquarelle, ecoline, ink, oil pastels, oil crayon, and pencil. He lets layers of paint dry completely on the canvas before adding more and finds oil paint disruptive to his particular process. Nagel works to avoid the unpredictability of wet colours interacting of their own accord; to him, he visibility of his technique in a painting is as intrinsic as the technique itself. Nagel’s panoramas are instilled with a strong sense of sentimentality, as many of his vistas are fondly recalled from the artist’s youth.

Nagel has exhibited extensively throughout the Netherlands, including galleries in Groningen, Amsterdam, Den Helder, Noordwijkerhout, Amstelveen and Gorredijk.