About me
ABOUT ME
Nature has accompanied me throughout my entire life —
not as a romantic idea, but as something real and present:
light, water, movement, stillness.
These experiences find their way onto my canvas, layer by layer.
I work primarily on raw, unprimed canvas,
using water-based pigments and natural earth tones.
Many of my paintings are created with a great deal of water.
Flow, change, wildness, and a quiet presence are part of the process.
What interests me is not the loud or the spectacular.
It is the atmosphere of a room —
a sense of depth, clarity, and presence.
Each work is an original.
My paintings are quiet, steady, open.
They become part of a personal space — sometimes present, sometimes a gentle companion.
I am deeply grateful that my paintings are collected around the world.
It moves me every time people in very different places
feel a connection to my work —
to what moves me, and to what becomes visible through my process.
The photos collectors send me from their homes mean a lot to me.
Seeing how the artworks live in their new spaces,
how they bring calm, nature, and a quiet sense of balance into someone’s life —
that is the part of my work I am truly thankful for.
I am equally grateful to my grandfather — without whom I might not be doing this today.
He was an entrepreneur, an art collector — and a painter himself.
He traveled widely, at a time when there was no internet, no television,
and very few photographs.
Painting was his way of holding on to memories — out of joy, curiosity,
and a desire to bring something home from the places he had seen.
His own paintings, and the art he collected, shaped my childhood.
They hung in our home, quiet and unspoken —
and they formed my way of seeing long before I understood it.
Although he passed away before I was born,
I’ve always felt close to him — through his paintings
and through the artistic perspective that lived on in our home.
When I was a teenager, I found a small wooden box in the attic of my parents’ house —
an old cigar box.
Inside were several tubes of oil paint, partly used, heavy,
with a scent I have never forgotten.
I remember the exact moment I opened the lid:
the smell, the colors — something about it touched me instantly.
I went to my mother and asked what it was.
She simply said: “These are your grandfather’s oil paints.”
That moment changed something in me.
I began painting with those colors — not on canvas,
but on old wooden boards, simply because that was all I had.
At the time, I didn’t yet understand what that moment meant.
It was a thread I picked up without realizing it.
Over time, I understood that this thread had never disappeared —
that it remained quiet, and deep —
and that it wanted to be continued.
Today, it brings me great joy to do exactly that.
And every time a new work finds a home, I feel that connection:
A line that continues,
a door opened years ago,
and something that lives on quietly — in color, material,
and in the act of passing it forward.
Studio Profile – for Collectors, Curators, and Media
Liv Olsen is a contemporary abstract artist based in Germany, working primarily with raw canvas, water-based pigments, and natural earth tones. Her work is rooted in quiet attention to light, texture, and time. With each painting, she explores the balance between openness and structure, clarity and softness.
Rather than following strict concepts, Olsen paints in layers, allowing the materials to respond. This process combines intuitive movement with careful reduction, resulting in original abstract paintings that feel grounded, atmospheric, and emotionally resonant.
Her art is collected internationally, finding homes in private collections, architect-designed interiors, and creative spaces worldwide. Each painting is an original — hand-painted, signed, and shipped with care from her studio in Germany.