Paintings of the Leipzig canals, made to be read up close.

Lock keeper, an abstract oil painting in deep teal, bone white, ochre and black, laid on with a palette knife
Lock keeper
2026Oil on linen160 × 120 cm
Available
1 of 3View the work

Paintings of the Leipzig canals, made to be read up close.

Lock keeper, an abstract oil painting in deep teal, bone white, ochre and black, laid on with a palette knife
Lock keeper
2026Oil on linen160 × 120 cm
Available
1 of 3View the work

Paintings of the Leipzig canals, made to be read up close.

Lock keeper, an abstract oil painting in deep teal, bone white, ochre and black, laid on with a palette knife
Lock keeper
2026Oil on linen160 × 120 cm
Available
1 of 3View the work

Studio

Studio

Henrike Vahl paints the water that runs through Leipzig: its locks, weirs and flood meadows, and the brick the city was built from.

She works in oil on linen and board, almost always with a knife, in a former cotton mill in the west of the city. A painting takes between a week and a winter.

She works in oil on linen and board, almost always with a knife, in a former cotton mill in the west of the city. A painting takes between a week and a winter.

The paintings are shown regularly in Leipzig, Berlin and Rotterdam, and are held in private collections in Germany, the Netherlands and Japan.

The paintings are shown regularly in Leipzig, Berlin and Rotterdam, and are held in private collections in Germany, the Netherlands and Japan.

About the studio

On the wall. Every painting at its true size, beside someone of average height.

On the wall. Every painting at its true size, beside someone of average height.

Scroll to walk along it

Lock keeper, an abstract oil painting in deep teal, bone white, ochre and black, laid on with a palette knifeLock keeper160 × 120 cm
Hoarfrost, an abstract painting in grey and white, dragged with a wide brushHoarfrost180 × 135 cm
Weir, afternoon, an abstract oil painting in dark teal, cream, olive and violetWeir, afternoon160 × 120 cm
Brick kiln, an abstract oil painting in rust red and creamBrick kiln140 × 105 cm
Flood meadow, a small abstract oil painting in pale blue and ochreFlood meadow60 × 78 cm
Clay pit, a small abstract oil painting in terracotta and pinkClay pit40 × 60 cm
Lime wash, a small oil painting in thick bone white and sandLime wash40 × 60 cm
Canal, rain, a tall abstract oil painting, blue down the centre with rust and coral at the edgesCanal, rain196 × 140 cm
Night shift, an abstract oil painting, white above and black belowNight shift150 × 113 cm

Every work, with sizes, dates and what is still available.

See every work

Exhibitions

All exhibitions

2026

Lock, weir, kiln

Galerie am Kanal,

Leipzig

12 Sep – 1 Nov 2026

Solo

Solo

2026

Paint as weather

Nordhafen Projektraum,

Berlin

6 Mar – 18 Apr 2026

Group

Group

2025

Floodplain

Raum Elster,

Leipzig

9 May – 28 Jun 2025

Solo

Solo

2024

Slow water

Galerie Maasoever,

Rotterdam

18 Oct – 30 Nov 2024

Solo

Solo

2024

New painting from Saxony

Elbhang Kunstverein,

Dresden

2 Feb – 24 Mar 2024

Group

Group

2023

Night work

Raum Elster,

Leipzig

3 Nov – 16 Dec 2023

Solo

Solo

Surface

Surface

Paint is not flat. Move across this one and the light moves with you.

Paint is not flat. Move across this one and the light moves with you.

Lime wash, a small oil painting in thick bone white and sand

Lime wash, 2024. Oil on board, 40 × 60 cm, shown four times its size.

Lime wash, 2024. Oil on board, 40 × 60 cm, shown four times its size.

Everything is put on with a knife and left alone. Where the paint is thick it stands two or three millimetres off the board, and it reads differently at nine in the morning than at four in the afternoon.

Everything is put on with a knife and left alone. Where the paint is thick it stands two or three millimetres off the board, and it reads differently at nine in the morning than at four in the afternoon.

Why I only use a knife

From the racks. In the studio and available now.

These can leave the studio this month. Any of them can be reserved for two weeks while you decide.

How buying works

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Hoarfrost, an abstract painting in grey and white, dragged with a wide brush
Hoarfrost2026 · Oil and chalk on linen · 180 × 135 cmView
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Press

Press

Vahl paints water the way other people describe weather: flatly, exactly, and with a great deal held back.

Marit Oswald,

Kunstblatt Mitte, 2025

The knife leaves nothing to hide behind. These are slow pictures that reward the second minute more than the first.

Jonas Ferreira,

Rotterdam Review of Painting, 2024

A lock, a weir, a kiln: three nouns, and nine years of looking at the same canal.

Elif Sander,

Elster Journal, 2026

Journal

All notes

An empty gallery room with white walls and a concrete floor

Hanging Lock, weir, kiln

Eleven paintings went to Galerie am Kanal this week. Notes on what was left out, and why the smallest one hangs alone.

Close view of thick oil paint in rust, orange and violet, laid on with a knife

Why I only use a knife

I put the brushes away in 2022. What a knife does to wet paint that a brush will not, and what it costs.

A primed canvas on an easel with window light falling across it

A new studio in the cotton mill

After nine years in a ground-floor room, the studio moved up two storeys. North light, a goods lift, and room to step back.

Contact

Contact

Studio visits and enquiries. Most works can be seen in Leipzig by appointment, and travel well.

Write to the studio

+49 341 555 0142

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