ABOUT THE WORK

Known for the atmospheric stillness she brings to her works, Betsy Westendorp manages to capture the fleeting moment of beauty that exists in nature. The Spanish-born painter, through her long-spanning career, has created her own brand of realism. For decades, Westendorp has been painting the beauty of creation in luminous, intoxicating colors, bearing a bravura of energy and her uniquely expressionistic style. A still life of contemplative calm, the painting is a celebration of nature’s quiet but extravagant gestures. Betsy Westendorp’s love of flora and landscapes comes through in her paintings; a notable vivacity and excitement are palpable. It seems that Westendorp’s philosophy of painting includes “happiness” and “harmony,” to which she has arrived not through any internal struggle but a kind of yielding to the promise of an Edenic world. Taal Lake, formerly known as Bombon Lake, is a freshwater lake in the province of Batangas, on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Because the lake was previously connected to the sea, it is home to many endemic species that have evolved and have adapted to the desalination of the lake waters. Before its recent eruption, tourists often flock to view the astounding natural phenomenon created by thousands of years of geological forces. After crossing the lake, visitors would also travel to the top of Volcano Island on horseback. Fortunately, it is through the eyes of artists such as Westendorp whose sensitive and sympathetic spirit we catch a glimpse of the true essence of a place. In her magnificent view of Taal, we are thrilled by the sheer exhilaration of open space, with its delicately tinted blue skies, flooded by a bracing gentle light, enlivened by just the right flicker of scintillating red-orange colors. Renowned for her vivid and luxuriant floral paintings, Westendorp opted this time for the qualities of restraint and subtlety in evoking the memory of an oft-visited site. In her almost minimalist and spare treatment of a too familiar vista, Westendorp presents a refreshed vision for our jaded eyes and invites us to enter into her painting’s silence and solitude. Bestowed in 2008 with a Presidential Medal of Merit, she is a well-loved figure in the Philippine cultural community.