Artist Danielle Kwaaitaal (1964, Bussum) graduated from the Rietveld Academy in 1991, with the groundbreaking project Bodyscapes, establishing her as a pioneer in digitally manipulated photography. By the early '90s, her work gained significant recognition, with the Stedelijk Museum acquiring a piece from the Bodyscapes project. In 1992, she held her first solo exhibition at Bloom Gallery in Amsterdam and became a prominent VJ in metropolitan clubs like Roxy and Escape in Amsterdam and Pacha in Ibiza.
Kwaaitaal’s international acclaim grew with solo and group exhibitions, including Whispering Waters (2009) at the Groninger Museum (NL) which explored tactile skin, gravity defiance, and her connection to painting. In 2012, her Hidden Series at Museum Fundatie (NL) featured portraits of 12-year-olds, capturing the complexities of adolescence.
In 2015, she presented the series Après Nous Le Déluge at the Naarden Photo Festival, marking a shift away from digital manipulation to create painterly floral still-lifes. Since then, Kwaaitaal has focused her work entirely on the theme of Water, culminating in the Florilegium Series (2018). This year-long exploration of submerged floral still-lifes was later published in the coffee table book Florilegium (2021)
Her 2024/2025 series Fluorescent and Mirage presented underwater still-life compositions rendered with surreal clarity, where waterlines and reflections fracture visual perception and challenge the boundary between realism and abstraction
Kwaaitaal’s works are held in numerous prestigious art collections worldwide, including those of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. Kwaaitaal undertakes commissioned projects that span a wide spectrum, from intimate portrait photography to large-scale installations, including notable works displayed at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.
Danielle Kwaaitaal is represented in the Netherlands by Bildhalle Gallery in Amsterdam and Zurich.
