I see beautiful bronze statues of women and large square paintings with white planes in white frames through which something seems to shimmer. I am visiting Henriette van der Does, artist and art therapist. She spent 28 years abroad (Colombia, Brazil, and England). She has been back in the Netherlands for four years, in the Amsterdam neighborhood of De Baarsjes.
It all started with a hobby, figure drawing. Endless lessons in every country she visited. As an expat in Brazil, she eventually went on to study ‘arteterapia’. “The professor indicated that it was important not only to become proficient in drawing and painting, but also in other materials. ‘If you offer ‘arteterapia’ to children, they will choose clay 90 percent of the time.’ So she started experimenting with clay, which led to creating sculptures, first as a learning process, later professionally. Henriette: “Most artists start with 2D and then move on to 3D; for me, it was the other way around.”
Bronze sculptures
Around me, I see the results, including the beautiful sculpture ‘Beginnings’. She also has it on her business card. Initially, all her sculptures were nudes, but Beginnings stands gracefully on high heels, and that later led to a series of clothed sculptures.
She shows a lady with a blue dress, ‘cold’ cast in epoxy resin mixed with the powder of the metal you want to imitate. A casting in epoxy resin is much cheaper since fewer steps are involved in the casting process. “I have a bronze caster for my bronze sculptures and a resin caster for my epoxy sculptures.”
One of her early abstract sculptures is a kind of folded-in ballerina. “All my sculptures are very much based on emotion. It was about ‘who am I,’ who am I as a mother, as an expat partner in another country, what is my role. Consequently, in 90 percent of cases, they have a female form.”
She has two children, now 27 and 28, the youngest of whom had to attend special education, which was the reason the family moved back from Brazil to England. Around the time of her departure from Brazil, she sold her first bronze sculptures. It was a confirmation and encouragement that her hobby could grow into something more.
She also wanted to continue her studies in art psychotherapy in the next country, but due to circumstances, that had to wait a while. Upon arrival in the UK, the focus initially shifted to art.
Guildford, Surrey
In England, the country after Brazil, she had her own studio in the garden of her house in Guildford, Surrey. There, she not only created work but also taught many art classes. “I taught five art classes a week. I taught my students how to observe, how to put something on paper, and I introduced them to various materials so that, after a while, they could choose a direction they felt comfortable with. And some students are now artists in their own right.”
After a while, she became chair of the Surrey Sculpture Society. “A cool club, with over 1,000 members; I was member number 359. 250 members were actively working.” She organized group exhibitions of their work, both outdoors and indoors. For example, the SSS held an annual exhibition at the prestigious RHS Wisley, Surrey, for over 25 years.
In England, she eventually completed her studies in ‘art psychotherapy’ in 2013, a two-year Master’s programme she completed at Roehampton University in London. It was a key moment, she says. “During my studies, you were expected to create art as well. That is when I started painting seriously.” Her current abstract work emerged from this, such as the piece with the large white planes in white frames.
With her diploma, she started her own practice in art psychotherapy for children and adults in her studio.
Culture Shock in the Netherlands
In 2021, she returned to the Netherlands. “That was just as much of a culture shock as when I went to live in Brazil or Colombia. In all the countries where I lived, I had to learn the language first; fortunately, that wasn’t necessary this time. But the housing market was impossible and, having since divorced, it took quite an adjustment.” She also had to get used to all the regulations and was forced to obtain certificates in order to continue the therapy. In the Netherlands, she is now affiliated with the professional association Vaktherapie Nederland and has her own home-based practice again.
Even now, she continues with her art at full strength, especially painting.
Due to her expensive living situation, she is also a shopping street manager in Amsterdam. As a street manager, she puts forward ideas to make shopping streets in neighborhoods such as the Spaarndammerbuurt & Houthavens and the Staatsliedenbuurt attractive and sustainable, so that shopkeepers regain energy and the public enjoys visiting them.
Behind the Light, series
When she starts painting, she has no plan, she says. “I start with whatever comes to mind. Emotion is the guiding principle. I like paintings with a square format. In my series ‘Behind the Light’, a series of 16 paintings, the side of the canvas is painted gold. This makes it look just as if there is a light behind it.”
Her latest work is less abstract. The most recent painting is an abstracted image of a small village in France, based on a photograph. This is unique, as she normally works from feeling, not from existing images. She shows the work. She says she tried to paint the essence of the village in the setting sun. It has already been sold to a Dutchman.
In 2022, she bought a delightful property, ‘Chez Douçoise’, in Confolens, a picturesque village south of Poitiers on the River Vienne. She has a special connection with France. She once graduated from the University of Amsterdam with a degree in French Language and Literature. She has a waterside terrace there. It is currently undergoing a transformation. “A fixer-upper.” Every room features unique painting. She shows some images of rooms in lapis lazuli colors. The utility room is becoming the studio. That way, she will have the opportunity to work on sculptures again. She plans to rent out a few suites to temporary guests and would also like to organize art courses.
We take a quick look at the room where she is currently creating her work, with a large table measuring over 2 meters by 1.20 meters, covered in many paint splatters and smudges. An ‘artwork’ created by all the students, therapy clients, and herself—an ever-changing ‘canvas’ for over 20 years.
Finally, what is her artistic philosophy?
“I recently saw Brancusi’s sculptures at the H’ART Museum in Amsterdam. Fantastic! He gets to the essence, something I also want to achieve: ‘I want to tell something essential, if not something existential. I let it come, without a preconceived plan. You have to move beyond what is. In therapy, we would say: ‘let go of the ego.’”
Images: 1) ‘Behind the Light’ series, 90 x 70 cm, The Kiss (left) Three is a Crowd (right), Paper & Acrylic, 2) French village (Confolens), 100 x 100 cm, Acrylic & Paste on canvas, 3) Brasil (from 2 sides), Bronze, ed. 5/9, 32 cm high 4) The start of ‘Beginnings’ , 5) detail Beginnings, 6) Beginnings, Iron Resin, Only Artist Copy left in Copper Resin, 110 cm high without base, 7) Sisterhood, Bronze & Copper Resin, ed. 5/12, 40 cm high integrated black base, 8) Silent Pool, 80 x 80 x 4 cm, Acrylic & Paste on canvas, 9) Casal VI, Artist Copy, Bronze, 90 x 90 cm , 10) Cityscape, 50 x 50 cm, Acrylic & Paste 11) FigureX, ed 7/9, bronze, 22 cm long
https://www.kunsttherapie-vanderdoes.com
https://www.instagram.com/hvanderdoes
https://emstudiogallery.nl
https://www.surreysculpture.org.uk/artist/henriettevanderdoes
https://mlbgalerie.nl/ik-wil-exposeren-4/
https://inzaken.eu/index.php/2026/03/27/henriette-van-der-does-wil-iets-essentieels-zo-niet-iets-existentieels-kwijt/
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