About Evelien Nijeboer
I’m a painter, formally trained as a visual artist. Painting, for me, has always been a form of inquiry.
Not just inquiry into technique — though technique matters. Inquiry into seeing itself. Into what it means to create perception – by painting, by writing or storytelling, and by active meditation.
This question has been with me my whole working life. It led me through training at the AKI ArtEZ art academy in Enschede and the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam — two of the most rigorous artistic educations available in the Netherlands. It led me into decades of research in Goethean science and anthroposophy, particularly their artistic dimensions. And it led me, eventually, to understand that, what I had been practicing on canvas, works everywhere — in how we know ourselves, in how we understand others, in how we navigate the world.
What I found, and what I teach:
Goethe believed that seeing is not a passive act. The eye doesn’t simply receive — it responds, completes, reaches toward what it encounters. It creates. Perception is a form of participation – and that changes everything.
It means that what you see is not fixed — it can be developed, refined, deepened. Seeing is a creative act, like a craft, with its own laws and skills to practice. And the capacity to see more fully is not a talent reserved for artists. It is a human faculty — available to anyone willing to practice it.
That is what I have spent thirty years exploring. In paint, in writing, in teaching, and in working directly with individuals who want to develop their own perceptual practice.
What I offer:
My work takes several forms — because the inquiry itself takes several forms.
I paint — landscapes and interiors that work with light, atmosphere and the space between things. Paintings that, I’m told, keep interesting and intruiging, after years on your wall.
I teach — Goethean color theory, drawing, painting as a practice of seeing, and the broader worldview of Goetheanism and anthroposophy as it connects to Waldorf education. Soon I will publish some online courses, workshops, and ebooks written for both newcomers and serious practitioners. Send me a message and I’ll notify you as soon as they’re available.
I work with individuals — artists, Waldorf teachers, anthroposophical practitioners — who want to develop their perceptual practice further than they can take it alone. I call this perceptual guidance. It is not coaching or therapy. It is close, careful observation — of your situation, your images, your experience — with artistic exercises when they open something.
A word about the inquiry itself:
I am interested in reality, in what hides in plain sight. Not the world behind the world — I don’t believe the spiritual is somewhere else, behind or beyond the visible. I believe it is alive in things, in the space between you and what you’re looking at. Your own perception cah acces it, once you learn how to navigate it. That’s what Goethe was pointing at – and that’s what a good painting does.
My research sits at the intersection of art, spiritual science and the practice of perception. It’s hard to put in a single category — which is probably why it took me a long time to find the right words for it. Artist and researcher in Goethean perception comes closest.
Practically:
I am based in the Netherlands – to be precise in rural Rekken, on the border with Germany. Here I live and work in a non-religious monastery. We have guest rooms for rent, so if you want to visit or come work with me: you’re most welcome.
I work online with people worldwide, and in person locally. I write in Dutch and English. I have a few dozen published articles on Goetheanism, anthroposophy and Waldorf education, and an ebook on Goethean color theory.
If something here resonates — whether you want to buy a painting, join a course, read further, or explore working together — I’d be glad to hear from you.