"The festive lights of a winter night." Painting

Lara Wasiljewa

Born in Ukraine, 1973 · Based in Switzerland · Contemporary Oil Painter

“Water is not merely a subject — it is a living field of light, movement and silence.
Light upon water is not reflection — it is presence.”
— Lara Wasiljewa

Lara Wasiljewa (b. 1973) is a contemporary oil painter whose work is centred on water, light and atmosphere. Born in Ukraine and now based in Switzerland, she has established a distinctive artistic practice exploring the relationship between water, horizon, movement and light.

For Wasiljewa, water is more than a subject to be depicted. It is a changing visual field in which light, depth, movement and stillness interact. The sea serves as the principal landscape of this investigation, while the horizon provides a structural balance between mass and light, distance and presence.

Working in oil on canvas, Wasiljewa employs layered painting and glazing techniques rooted in the discipline of classical European painting. Close observation of wave formation, surface tension, reflected light and atmospheric change informs her compositions. Her paintings combine the structural discipline of classical painting with a contemporary sensitivity to atmosphere, perception and luminosity.

The sea forms a coherent maritime body of work within her broader exploration of water. Across individual paintings, recurring elements of light, horizon, atmosphere, movement and silence create continuity of vision rather than stylistic repetition.

Situated within the broader tradition of maritime painting, Wasiljewa has established a contemporary pictorial language in which water functions simultaneously as landscape, atmosphere, mirror and space of contemplation.

Her works are held in private collections in New York, London, Paris, Geneva, Vienna, Dubai, Riyadh, Amsterdam and Brussels. Her work has also undergone formal market assessment through Artmajeur in collaboration with Akoun (France).