About
I am an artist and colour researcher working and living in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Colour takes centre stage in my work as a carrier of personal memories and sensory experiences. From an artistic and research-based approach, I develop colour studies in which the subjective experience of colour is explored and made visible. My work grows out of observation, slowness, and attention — using colour as a way to perceive more intensely and to come closer to the present moment. Through abstract colour fields, I document and preserve combinations in which colours emerge or can be (re)organised.
To understand the phenomenon of colour and to train my eye, I often work in series. Through systematic colour studies, I explore both the optical effects and the experiential qualities of colour. These series are realised across different media, including drawings, paintings, murals, textile installations, and screen prints.
Alongside my autonomous work and commissioned colour consultancy, I develop interactive workshops that invite participants to discover and deepen their own experiences of colour.
photo
Annelore van Herwijnen
Contact
Email—hello@nannavanheest.com
Instagram—@nannavanheest
FAQ
My fascination comes from an insatiable curiosity — how colour constantly shifts depending on context, perception, and personal association. I’m intrigued by how two people can see the same colour yet experience it entirely differently. The tension between the shared and the personal. Conceptually, I understand colour as a relational phenomenon rather than a fixed entity. I’m interested in colour as something unstable and subjective—something that resists absolute definition and instead reveals itself through context: next to another colour, within a space, through memory, language, or emotion.
Research is inseparable from my practice. My studio functions as a laboratory where theory and intuition meet. I work with observation exercises, conversations, reading, and hands-on experiments. This allows me to move between scientific, artistic, and cultural perspectives on colour, without prioritizing one over the other.
Large-scale murals allow colour to become immersive. When colour exists at architectural scale, it’s no longer an object, something to look at—it becomes part of the environment. These works invite the body into the experience of colour, making perception more physical and spatial. For me, murals are a way to test how colour influences movement, mood, and the interaction with people.
Abstraction strips away imagery and figurative narrative, allowing colour itself to take the lead. In these works, subtle shifts, edges, and interactions become visible. Colour fields create space for slow looking and conscious seeing, where viewers are invited to connect their own memories and associations onto the work.
After two years of Fashion Illustration at St. Joost in Breda (1996-1998) I wanted to broaden my field and started Graphic Design at Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam (1998-2001). After graduation I worked as an independent designer and artist. From 2010-2012 I studied at Teacher Fine Art and Design at Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam and got my degree in teaching. This has led to working part-time as an educator since then. In 2019 I started my Masters research at Piet Zwart Institute focussing completely on conducting colour research and developing my artistic practice. I graduated in 2021 with my research The Colour Story.
Colour is an endlessly changeable and dynamic phenomenom. That openness keeps me engaged. I’m driven by the possibility of developing a more holistic and interdisciplinary approach to colour—one that connects art, design, science, education, and lived experience. As long as colour continues to surprise me, my research remains alive. Sharing my passion is a driving force as well, exchanging ideas and research on colour with others. That’s why I work as an educator and am a member of the Interdisciplinary Colour Association Belgium.
You can buy my work through exhibitions or directly from me during a studio visit. Feel free to contact me. Besides that I design and paint murals in commission, give interactive workshops that increase colour awareness and offer colour advice for interior projects.
Funding
2025 Praktijkbijdrage CBK Rotterdam – funding residency & exhibition at Poos
2024 Praktijkbijdrage CBK Rotterdam – funding exhibition at Murals Inc.
2021 Nomination Research Award
2002 Startstipendium – Fonds Beeldende Kunst/Vormgeving
2001 Aanmoedigings prijs i.s.m. Nadine Stijns – Stroom Den Haag