Bidspirit auction | Marloes Hakkers

Marloes Hakkers - ''Between Places'' 2026. A portrait of a friend at the moment of departure. She has decided to leave, but hasn’t gone yet. The background is divided into distinct color fields, mirroring the split sense of self that comes  from living far from where you began. In her hands she holds a bowl carrying two things: an  olive branch for Israel, and acorns for Germany, where she is returning. She meets your gaze steadily. There is weight here, but also a quiet resolve. The kind that comes from knowing  yourself well enough to start over. oil on wood 50/40 cm signed Marloes Hakkers is a figurative painter based in Tel Aviv, originally from the Netherlands. Born into a working-class family, she grew up in a single-mother household where pursuing a career in painting simply didn’t feel like a possibility. Nine years ago she moved to Israel, and it was here, with the support of her husband, that she finally gave herself permission to pursue what she couldn’t ignore. Her entire artistic education took place in Israel: she studied for a year at the Jerusalem Studio School under Yedidya Hershberg and Deborah Sebaoun, continued with courses under Ilya Gefter, and has since been studying with David Nipo. Israel didn’t just become her home; it became the place where she became a painter. Her work moves between portrait, still life, and landscape, though subject matter is secondary to her. Whether it’s a face or a lemon, it always comes down to shape, light, and perception. She paints because she has to. It is, as she puts it, “the one constant in my life that never leaves.” ''I often find myself questioning what realism really is. We like to think we see and paint “reality, ” but every painting is just a frozen moment of perception, a mix of observation and interpretation. My work is rooted in looking closely: at light, at form, at fleeting moments.''