Alexander Claessen is a Dutch artist based in Amsterdam and founder of Studio Claessen. His paintings explore the soul as a carrier of memory—where personal history, loss, and transformation become visible through gesture, surface, and form.

A man with dark curly hair and a beard wearing a yellow apron with paint stains, standing indoors against a plain wall.

Rooted in both Dutch and Italian heritage, his work moves between clarity and intensity: the restraint of Northern European painting meets the warmth, symbolism, and intimacy of Southern culture. This duality shapes a visual language in which control and emotion exist side by side.

Claessen studied at the Art Academy in Maastricht and completed a Master’s degree in Product Design in Milan. There, he developed a sensitivity to structure, material, and composition that continues to inform his painterly practice. Further training at the Wackers Academie in Amsterdam allowed him to deepen his engagement with traditional oil painting techniques.

Working primarily in oil on linen, Claessen approaches painting as a physical and psychological process. Layers are built, disturbed, and reduced—allowing traces of time, tension, and revision to remain visible on the surface. His figures do not simply appear; they emerge, carrying an internal weight that resists resolution.

Themes of memory, grief, masculinity, and longing run through his work. Rather than illustrating narrative, his paintings hold moments of emotional intensity—where presence and absence, strength and vulnerability, are inseparable. Art history forms an essential foundation within his practice, not as reference alone but as a living structure. Architectural elements, ornament, and echoes of sacred imagery appear as fragments—suggesting continuity between past and present, between collective memory and personal experience.

In 2021, Claessen was selected as one of the final fifteen contestants of the television programme Project Rembrandt (NTR), broadcast in 2022.

Exhibitions:

2024 — Solo Exhibition, Stadszwanen, Amsterdam

2025 — Solo Exhibition, KunstWest, Amsterdam

2025 — Exhibition, Grünerløkka, Oslo

2026 — Nocknock Art Fair, Amsterdam

2026 — Kunstmarkt Noord, NDSM, Amsterdam

Watch Project Rembrandt Season 3.

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NOCKNOCK ART FAIR — AMSTERDAM From 5–8 March you can find Studio Claessen at NOCKNOCK Art Fair in the Kromhouthal, Amsterdam. NOCKNOCK is an artist-driven fair where visitors meet artists directly — artists, no galleries. 📍 Boot
Title: The Hand That Edits Marble Oil on linen 100 × 80 cm In this painting, a living figure presses her hand over the mouth of a marble statue. The gesture is intimate yet forceful — the present silencing the past. The statue represen
Title: Frozen Bicycles Medium: Oil on linen Size: 50 x 40 cm Feb, 2026. A vertical stack of bicycles rises like a fragile monument, their frames intertwined and frozen in place. Painted in cool blues and whites, the snow quiets what once symbolized
ESTATE 100 × 80 cm Oil on linen White laundry moves gently in the sea breeze — an ancient, almost ceremonial gesture repeated across generations. Suspended between sky and water, the fabric becomes more than a domestic object; it suggest
Title: rest. oil on linen — 100 × 120 cm Sleep is the moment the body stops performing. A quiet surrender to the truest self. Here, social and cultural roles loosen their grip. What remains is breath, weight, stillness. Behind him sta
THE STILL MOMENT OF EDEN. A breath held by the universe. The sky burns quietly, the day refuses to end — and the world has not yet fallen, but it already knows it will. Two bodies, carved out of innocence and longing, stand at the edge of bec
✨ New prints now available! ✨ Bring the emotion, depth, and story of my original paintings into your space. Each print captures the essence of my work — perfect for collectors, art lovers, or anyone wanting to add a bold, expressive touch to th
I sometimes paint about loss not to hold onto sorrow, but to reveal the quiet truth we all share. Loss is not the opposite of life — it is woven into it. And when we dare to show it, speak it, and honour it, something gentle opens inside us. I
Breakfast in Amsterdam” 60x80 cm — oil on linen by Studio Claessen A quiet morning in Amsterdam — a moment of love, reflection, and presence. This painting celebrates Dutch heritage through the Delft blue tiles and canal houses, wh