Born in a small Dutch town in Southwest Minnesota, Gene Van Essen grew up surrounded in a sea of colors and textures, coming in the form of tulips and daffodils.  

Van Essen attended The Colorado Institute of Art, for commercial art.  His artwork has been exhibited in galleries around the country, and many of his artwork pieces are presently owned by independent collectors, and by the Mon-Dak Heritage Art Museum in Sidney Montana.

“The process of painting is more important than the finished art work”, “For me the excitement is in the journey of the work, not the destination.”

Filled with bold brush strokes and contrasting values, his artwork is the illusion of colors, and impressions that creates an emotional response from the viewers.  His paintings are enriched  with saturation of hues and thick textures.  He believes his art needs to pull this emotional response, and that there is energy that is transmitted through the visual stimulus and interpreted by the viewer.

“In painting Plein-Air, Nature is the teacher and I’m the student."