Marianne van Roode is a Dutch-born visual artist who has been based in Granada, Spain, for over thirty years. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam (Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, now known as Willem de Kooning Academy), where she graduated in June 1994 with a specialization in Interior Architecture. Her graduation project was a proposal for the perfumery department of a commercial center, accompanied by a visual study on the density of ornamental information, and a thesis titled Life’s a Stage, which explored the creative process through four key figures: Robert Wilson, Rem Koolhaas, Alfred Hitchcock, and Peter Greenaway.
The study on ornamentation was inspired by the Alhambra in Granada, a city where she spent a semester in the fall of 1993 as part of an academic exchange (Socrates). There, she attended environmental design classes at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Granada (UGR), taking fourth- and fifth-year courses.
In January 1995, she returned to Granada for good. After several freelance and administrative jobs — including photo collages — she began working professionally in graphic and web design in 1998. She served on the board of the Andalusian Association of Designers (AAD) as well as the Association of Businesswomen in Granada. Among other initiatives, she organized two workshops with designer Fernando Medina titled Las Ideas Primero (Ideas First).
In 2007, her first daughter was born, followed by twin daughters in 2008. For a time, she balanced motherhood with ongoing graphic design and website maintenance projects until 2009, when she stepped away from her final clients and closed that chapter of her career.
In March 2013, she joined a multinational company in the Human Resources and payroll sector, initially as a temporary hire thanks to her Dutch language skills. The collaboration extended for over eleven years, during which she developed deep expertise in Dutch payroll legislation, accounting, and SAP. She earned certifications in Basis Kennis Loonadministratie (BKL), Praktijkdiploma Loonadministratie (PDL), and Lean Six Sigma (Yellow Belt). Over time, she transitioned to the Product department as a Business Analyst, where she was responsible for the functional design of the company’s internal SAP PCC environment. Her role deepened her knowledge in areas such as design thinking, time management, business modeling, and intercultural dynamics in global payroll environments.
Throughout these years, her artistic drive never fully disappeared. Through some illustrations, some collages made from old magazines, some furniture design, and handmade cards, her creative practice remained quietly present. Eventually, some online workshops and a growing need for expression reignited her commitment to painting.
In 2023, after a period of intensive exploration, she began regular classes for a year with artist David Conde, where she deepened her understanding of painting methods, processes, and foundations.
On May 1st, 2024, she left behind the stability of a fixed salary to fully commit to her artistic practice — with no certainties, only the quiet conviction that the time had come.
Her current work explores the tensions between order and chaos, permanence and transformation, memory and repetition. Through painting, collage, and material gesture, Marianne traces an intuitive map of lived experience: what remains when everything else changes.
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