Location: Netherlands
Sandra ter Horst is a contemporary visual artist. Her work explores the tension between
strength and vulnerability, with a focus on emotional presence and self-recognition. Her
paintings move beyond traditional portraiture and seek to capture an inner state of being.
My work is centered on making inner experience visible. I do not paint portraits, but
emotional states — moments where strength and softness meet. Through color, texture,
and composition, I invite recognition and introspection. The faces function as carriers of
emotion. My paintings create spaces for stillness, presence, and authenticity.
Veiled Confidence explores the quiet strength that exists beneath restraint.
These works reveal confidence not as something loud or performative, but as an inner state — subtle, grounded, and self-contained.
The veiled elements do not conceal weakness, but protect vulnerability. They suggest a conscious choice to remain partially hidden, where authenticity does not require full exposure. Confidence here is layered: calm, intuitive, and deeply embodied.
Through expressive brushstrokes and nuanced color contrasts, the figures inhabit a space between openness and reserve. They stand in their own presence, not seeking validation, but resting in self-trust.
Veiled Confidence is an invitation to recognize strength in softness, and power in stillness.
Tender Disguise explores the subtle tension between what is shown and what is held back.
The figures appear playful, adorned with color, gesture, and suggestion — yet beneath the surface lies emotional depth and quiet strength.
The painted marks resemble fragments of masks, not to conceal, but to protect.
They hint at identity without defining it.
Softness and confidence coexist, inviting the viewer to look beyond expression and into presence.
This series reflects the beauty of guarded openness —
where vulnerability is not exposed, but chosen.
Where strength lives gently, without the need to announce itself.
Soft Defiance reveals a confidence that is not polished or restrained.
The smile carries layers — playfulness, experience, self-awareness.
The veil softens, yet erases nothing. It frames an identity that chooses visibility without explanation.
This is not a mask, but a deliberate presence.
Unmasked Presence captures the moment when nothing needs to be concealed.
Layers dissolve not through force, but through trust.
What remains is not identity, but presence —
pure, quiet, and unfiltered.
This work invites stillness.
A gentle acknowledgment of what is, without judgment or narrative.
Within that openness, softness emerges —
and it is there that true strength resides.
Inner States explores moments of emotional presence beyond performance or protection.
The figures are not portraits, but carriers of an inner condition — moments where control softens and authenticity emerges.
Through layered brushwork, restrained gestures, and a balance between strength and vulnerability, the paintings invite the viewer into stillness.
What is shown is not who someone is, but what it feels like to be — unguarded, unforced, present.
Unguarded reveals the moment after defense has fallen away.
Not exposed, but open.
The figure is neither protected nor threatened — simply present.
Vulnerability here is not weakness, but clarity.
A state in which nothing needs to be hidden, and nothing needs to be explained.
Unforced captures a moment where effort dissolves.
Nothing is being proven. Nothing is held in place.
The figure exists without tension — not passive, but settled.
Strength appears quietly, through ease rather than control.
This work speaks to the power of allowing, of being present without direction or demand.
Inward Motion explores moments where movement turns inward.
Not performance, but presence.
Not display, but listening.
These works capture the quiet space where strength softens,
where the body becomes a place of awareness rather than action.
Each figure exists in an in-between state —
between holding and releasing,
between discipline and surrender.
This series is an invitation to slow down,
to sense what moves beneath the surface,
and to recognize presence as a form of power.
She pauses not from weakness,
but from listening.
In stillness, her strength settles.
The body no longer pushes forward
but holds space for what is quietly unfolding.
This is a moment of contained force —
where nothing needs to happen
for everything to be present.
Here, strength turns inward.
The body gathers itself,
not to impress,
but to align.
Muscle and breath meet in silence.
Attention moves beneath the surface,
where power is not shown,
but prepared.
This is the weight of grace —
a moment before release,
held with intention.
She does not arrive all at once.
She opens, slowly.
Presence is not a pose,
but a willingness to be here —
without armor,
without retreat.
Nothing is held back.
Nothing is performed.
Only the quiet courage
of showing up
as she is.
“Tender Disguise”
“Soft Defiance”
“Unmasked Presence”
“Unguarded”
“Unforced”
“Held in Stillness”
“Gathered Within”
“Unfolding Presence”
