John Haanstra was born in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) in the year 1945. He was educated at the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam. John has developed a career as a successful multi-purpose artist. His works continue to be sold in the United States and Europe. For the last few years John’s extensive experience and creative vision have led him to masterfully paint several very unique collections. The paintings are based on the Greek mythology and contain a world of mysterious buildings, pillars, air, water, nudes and statues The vivacious imagery created in these collections can easily lead the viewer down a path of creative interpretation that is both unique and imaginative.

The creative style of the Dutch artist John Haanstra can be classified as a combination of fantastic realism, magic realism, symbolism and surrealism.
In spite of the application of several art styles in his collections, John Haanstra follows a clear line. The paintings of John Haanstra can be recognized by settings in which everything is in balance. He combines various elements into his paintings to portray the stories behind the works. In fact, it can be said that John Haanstra directs with paint. This method of painting requires a highly skilled technique and a particular feeling for composition. These qualities make John Haanstra’s paintings particularly unique.
Each of the collections offered by John Haanstra integrates different elements of fantastic realism, surrealism, symbolism and magic realism to a certain degree. He started his journey by applying elements of Greek mythology into his first collection, advancing his way through the elements of fantastic realism shown in the second collection. The latest works partly step away from the “magic world” into a surrealistic world.