ABOUT ME


HELLO!
I’m Vanessa Van Meerhaeghe, a visual artist based in Belgium, exploring bold, colorful, and intimate compositions that reflect my passion for storytelling. My journey began in the world of fashion design, where I spent 20 years designing collections, curating color palettes, and creating concepts for women’s fashion. Today, the love for vibrant hues, patterns, and storytelling that I cultivated during those years finds a new home in my paintings, blending playful and introspective themes into dynamic works.
ARTISTIC APPROACH
With a background in fashion design and illustration, my work is deeply influenced by contemporary fashion and art. My paintings are bold, colorful, and playful, yet they explore contradictions—elegance mixed with irony, beauty intertwined with subtle critique. I love working with patterns, often using them to create tension between structure and movement.
My figures, mostly women, inhabit carefully staged settings where body language and small details hint at larger narratives. There’s often a quiet irony in their gestures, an ambiguous relationship between comfort and performance. Inspired by personal experiences, running trails, and everyday observations, my work reflects on societal expectations, self-image, and the absurdity of modern rituals.
I primarily work in oil and acrylics, building up layers of color and texture to create a sense of depth while maintaining a graphic, stylized quality. Whether through humor, fashion references, or unexpected compositions, my paintings invite viewers to engage with the contradictions they reveal.
CREATIVE JOURNEY
Over time, my transition from fashion design to visual art has allowed me to develop a unique voice that merges the two worlds. My artistic practice continues to evolve, and I see my work as an ongoing conversation with myself and my audience—a process of discovery, reflection, and experimentation.
EDUCATION
Academy of fine Arts, Ghent,
Fashion design