German Expressionism

Hubert Roestenburg is part of the art movement known as German Expressionism, because the critics think he belongs there. He comes in at the tail-end of when German Expressionism was current. Although he shares some stylistic similarities with Oskar Kokoschka and Emil Nolde, the main reason why he belongs here is because, more than anybody of his generation, he embodies the spirit and the passion that is German Expressionism. The comparison between Hubert Roestenburg and Oskar Kokoschka is particularly interesting because, although their paintings look very different, they both use a similar technique to to make their paintings “shine” and come alive. Kokoschka does it by using white in his very colorful paintings, Roestenburg uses color to achieve the same effect. The very dynamic and colorful painting Winter near Amsterdam (shown above) is an absolute masterpiece and a good example of how the colors Roestenburg uses make the painting vibrate and “dance” with excitement.

Hubert Roestenburg

Hubert Roestenburg was born in 1935 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He is a descendant of a family of painters that goes back 300 years. He studied psychology at the University of Amsterdam and philosophy at the Town University of London. Later he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp Belgium. Hubert Roestenburg  prefers to work outside. Although he paints landscapes and cityscapes; he has, throughout his long career, also painted many portraits and nudes. Hubert Roestenburg has lived and worked in many different countries in Europe. Among them, England, Portugal, Belgium and Czechoslovakia. He current lives in the Eifel mountains, near the river Moselle in Germany.