From Northern Germany to Digital Art
I’m Felix van Horst, a German digital artist born in 1988 in northern Germany. Growing up in a large family, I was drawn to art and music from an early age—two worlds that offered freedom, imagination, and a way of looking beyond the ordinary.
I never studied art or received formal artistic training. Instead, I studied engineering and management and later began working for a large corporation. Yet the desire to create never disappeared. Over time, I found my way to visual art and began exploring the creative possibilities of the computer—teaching myself, experimenting freely, and gradually developing a visual language of my own.
Inspiration and Artistic Vision
Among my artistic influences are Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism, naïve and folk-inspired art, geometric abstraction. When it comes to names, I am truly fascinated by works of Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Gustav Klimt. My greatest source of inspiration, however, is travelling. Every journey introduces me to new landscapes, cities, cultures, people, and perspectives. These experiences continually find their way into my motifs, colors, and imagined worlds.
My Visual Language
Color is one of the central building materials in my work. I use vibrant, saturated tones not simply to describe reality, but to shape the atmosphere and emotional temperature of an image. Buildings may become turquoise, crimson, violet, orange, or electric blue. Water, vegetation, figures, and skies can take on colors that are more emotional than naturalistic.
Circles, spirals, windows, flowers, eyes, suns, reflections, and ripples recur throughout my work and have gradually become part of my visual signature. These forms allow me to move between representation and abstraction. A circle may suggest a flower, an eye, a sun, or a reflection, while also functioning as an independent element within the composition.
Architecture often appears animated rather than mathematically exact. Buildings lean, stack, compress, and gather together, while windows, roofs, doors, arches, and stairs become rhythmic elements within a larger arrangement. The places I create are not intended as documentary representations. They are imagined environments shaped by warmth, curiosity, abundance, and visual pleasure.
The overall atmosphere of my work is deliberately affirmative. I aim to create intensity without aggression, abundance without chaos, and stylization without losing emotional accessibility. My worlds are recognizable, but more colorful, rhythmic, playful, and optimistic than everyday reality.
A World of Color and Imagination
What I want people to feel when they look at my work cannot be defined in one sentence. Every artwork has its own character, shaped by its motif, colors, and atmosphere. I may begin with an idea of the emotions I hope to evoke, but ultimately, art happens in the eye of the viewer.
What matters is not only what I intended, but what the spectator discovers and feels when viewing the work. That is where the art truly comes to life.
Many of my artworks are created to bring joy, hope, and a sense of wonder. I am drawn to whimsical motifs and imagined worlds that invite the viewer to step away from everyday reality for a moment—to enjoy color, beauty, and the liveliness of life itself.
Perhaps my love of intense color also comes from my home in northern Germany, where autumn and winter can be long, cloudy, and grey. Everyday life is often dominated by muted shades, both in our surroundings and in the way people dress. Through my art, I create a counterworld: vibrant, playful, alive, and full of possibility.
Large formats are an essential part of this vision. A large artwork immediately changes the atmosphere of a room. It attracts the eye, invites the viewer to pause, and creates enough space for details to reveal themselves gradually.
In the best case, I do not want someone to look for only a few seconds. I want them to remain, explore, and continue discovering something new.
When Art Became a Path
Art became more than a private passion when I realized that my work could genuinely touch people. Collectors began sending me deeply personal messages about what my artworks meant to them. One person even wrote a poem for his wife inspired by one of my pieces.
Moments like these showed me that an artwork can become part of someone else’s memories, emotions, and personal world. They encouraged me to pursue this path more deeply and to continue creating works that can inspire, fascinate, and connect with people in ways I could never fully predict.
Today, my artworks have found homes worldwide in more than 40 countries around the world. The many kind messages and overwhelmingly positive responses I receive from collectors mean the world to me. Knowing that my work can bring joy, inspire someone’s imagination, or become part of a personal story continues to motivate me to explore, evolve, and create.
