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2026/08/07
How to Navigate the Legacy Blog of Henri van Bentum, 1929 - 2022
2026/08/01
On the Healing Power of Art
Soon we will mark the 96th anniversary of Henri's birth, on August 13th, 1929.
"Henri, the 'Maestro', lives on
in our hearts and minds every day."
Natasha van Bentum
Henri van Bentum,
1929-2022
Henri often spoke of the healing power of art. He was acutely aware of this, having started to paint while in a tuberculosis sanatorium in the Netherlands after WWII. The doctors said painting was a major factor in his recovery.
Over the past four years, I have found his paintings here in our private collection have brought both solace and much joy.
Here are a few words by others about Henri's work, as well as s short essay Henri wrote many years ago, "What Is A Creative Person Like?"
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“The brightness that leaps from his canvasses is like crystals seen through a microscope.” TIME
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“Henri was generous with his heart and his mind, always creative. He set a high-water mark for a life lived with integrity, focus and compassion.” Marina Bieler
“As an artist and colour master, Henri van Bentum captured light and life, creating something beautiful, a choreography of colour and texture. In Henri’s hands, the Universe danced.” Dr. Kimberly Kowal, NASA
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“Viewing a painting by Henri van Bentum is a stimulus to the imagination. Perhaps his background as a diamond-faceter’s son is responsible for the almost crystalline aspect of his work. The single most extraordinary quality in all his paintings is an incredible luminosity, a radiance that emanates from within.” Globe and Mail
“Henri van Bentum’s opus, Organiverse, is a glimpse into the multi-layered beauty of all that is Life. These mandalas offer an immense opportunity for healing and for a heart-based understanding of who we are physically, emotionally and spiritually. A dance of colour, form and contemplation.” Dr. Mark Sherman
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“Henri lived with enhanced fluid sensitivity, especially to colour, nuances of form, and shades and combinations… and, in addition to paying careful attention to detail, Henri embodied an expanded, or perhaps better said, an unblemished sense of wonder.
These combinations and receptive qualities help to explain how and why Henri would often enhance situations and people simply by his presence, and this in turn, would inspire creativity and highlight beauty, in many diverse situations.” Brian W.E. Johnson
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"While Henri is known as an abstract artist, his approach to the abstract is distinctive - perhaps it might be called an abstract ecology. It is this unique perspective in his art that invites a sense of connection to realities beyond the ordinary appearance of things - both to the cosmos, but also to the biological. In his abstractions, we see the resonance of the microcosm and macrocosm." Dr. Seonaigh MacPherson
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What is a Creative Person Like? (written by Henri many years ago)
Are observant of the world about them
Are aware of the feel and touch of things
Listen to the sound of life around them
Are sensitive to smell
Are aware of the taste of things
THEY LIKE TO ‘BUILD’ THEIR IDEAS
Like to construct things in material
Prefer to rearrange old ideas into new relationships
Like to experiment with various approaches and media
Like to try out new methods and techniques
Prefer to manipulate their ideas in various ways
Have to solve problems set by themselves
Seek to push beyond the boundaries of their thinking
THEY LIKE TO EXPLORE NEW IDEAS
Are original in their thoughts about things
Like to invent new ways of saying and telling
Like to dream up new possibilities
Like to imagine and pretend
THEY ARE CONFIDENT IN THEMSELVES
Flexible in approaches to situations
Like to be independent and on their own
Are outwardly expressive of what they have to say
Are not afraid of emotional feelings and show them
THEY LIKE TO INVESTIGATE THE NATURE OF THINGS
Like to search for the meaning of things
Question available data and information
Like to inquire into unknown quantities
Discover new relationships
Desire to uncover new meanings
THEY RESPOND TO AESTHETIC STIMULI
Are sensitive to the beauty of nature
Appreciate beauty man has made and
Which nature abundantly provides
Have feeling for harmony and rhythm
Love to sing, write, explore, cook,
act, sculpt, draw, paint or dance.
For those who missed it, here is the link to Henri's obituary.
Posted by Natasha van Bentum,
Henri's lifelong partner of 51 years
2026/07/26
After the recent World Cup, revisiting Henri's post of 2012: Lionel Messi - a wizard, poet and humble genius on the grass pitch
Written in 2012, artist Henri van Bentum (1929-2022) was an early admirer of Lionel Messi, who caught his eye several years before. (In his youth in the Netherlands, Henri played with the Ajax youth academy.)
There are always those who stand out, the crème that rises to the top in any sport.
However, I have to dig deep into the chambers of my little grey cells to find a display of sheer magic like the performance of wizard Lionel Messi, the 24 year old Argentine superstar who plays for FC Barcelona. It makes you wonder if we’ll ever see another one like him this century.
Messi mesmerizes, baffles, bewitches and bewilders anyone who challenges him for the ball, and bothers goalies who shiver and pray when suddenly Messi comes face to face with them. Such as in yesterday’s match against Bayer Leverkusen from Germany in a Champions League match. Twice Messi came face to face with goalie Leno and on both occasions Messi - in what seemed nonchalantly – gave a brilliant example of the superb technique he possesses - lifted the ball over the keeper into the empty net. One goal with his left foot, and one with his right foot.
Messi can dribble not 1 but 4 or 5 opponents into a state of frenzy with his dazzling, unpredictable moves, scoring in any position or from any angle - from free kicks (now called set pieces), not to speak of his superb dead-on passes - to passes that sometimes even leave his teammates scratching their heads or apologizing when they do not ‘get it’. Yesterday’s end result: Barcelona 7 – Leverkusen 1. Oh, and this wunderkind scored a mere five goals. A record in the Champions League history. Already this Messi/ah has won the coveted Golden Ball for the world’s best player of the year, three times. It is not my nature to elaborate in my blog posts on the game, but watching Messi is so uplifting an experience I like to share his extraordinary handling of the ball, his humility, instinct and enthusiasm for the game.
Rare enough in these days of prima donnas and mega-salaried participants in the game.
Watching this “kid”, no matter how dark and cloudy it is, always brings blue skies and sunshine into your life.
We hope to see this display of awe and wonder presented and created by Lionel Messi the Magician for more years to come.
2026/01/17
"What The Critics Say" -- about the work of the late Henri van Bentum, Artist
Henri van Bentum at work on a "Spatial Rhythm" watercolour, Arizona, 2015
“His microscopic attention to detail comes out most strongly in evocations of coral seen through the luminous waters of tropical seas, and in the textures of rock and ice caught in the suffused light of underground caverns.” TIME Magazine
“The best one-man show of abstract art I have seen in a long time is that of watercolours by Henri van Bentum. While too many artists seem to torture watercolour for expression, van Bentum exploits the natural delight of the medium so that it serves his most exacting thought.” Globe & Mail
“Henri van Bentum’s series of work, “Spatial Rhythms”, reflects his development into a controlled, simple interpretation of inner feelings; this series of paintings interprets the elements of music such as volume, mood and rhythm and are translated into tonality, colour and composition." Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, Alberta
"When he marshals his colour into circles, then places them like water drops on the white canvas, van Bentum gets a rich intricacy of light and depth. Some have jewel facets, while others contain the subtleties of earth, leaves and bark". Globe & Mail
“Viewing a painting by Henri van Bentum is a stimulus to the imagination. Perhaps his background as a diamond-faceter’s son is responsible for the almost crystalline aspect of his work. The single most extraordinary quality in all his paintings is an incredible luminosity, a radiance that emanates from within.
Completely introspective in his work, van Bentum is probably a born abstract painter. J.W.G. ("Jock") Macdonald, with whom he studied, was one of the first to encourage van Bentum to develop his individuality, and it is certainly under Macdonald’s influence that he achieved his present independence. van Bentum uses blank space as a positive.
The missing element is essential to the whole. While none of his current work depicts any recognizable object, it immediately conjures up a mental word picture of a time, space, melody or situation”. Canadian Interiors
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