Marianne Urth is an emerging Sydney artist who has been a finalist in Fisher’s Ghost Award 2021, Maritime Art Prize 2021, 2022 and 2023, and the Lethbridge Art Award 2022. Her work hangs on walls in San Francisco, Miami, New York, Copenhagen, Melbourne, New Castle and in homes all over Sydney.

Marianne was born in Southern Denmark and grew up surrounded by the Baltic Sea. In her late twenties she moved to Chile where she continued to explore the beautiful yet unpredictable seas in the fjords of the Southern Oceans. In 2015, when she moved with her husband and family to Sydney, it was again the water that attracted her and made her feel welcome in her new surroundings. Racing and cruising along the East Coast of Australia is an integral part of the artist’s life.

From her studio in Greenwich overlooking the Lane Cove River she finds inspiration in the harbour’s boating activities and the forever changing wind and cloud formations which can transform a pond to a roaring sea with fascinating ease. Marianne paints the effervescent ocean, a colourful abstract interpretation of the powerful movements of the waves with their shifting shapes and shades of blue and green.

The presence of an often colourful sail and a heeling mast suggest the state of the seas and the rapidly changing conditions or the excitement of an animated race. Her bold brush strokes combined with pools and eddies of acrylic paint, frothy white sea spray and lines of black charcoal gives her art multiple layers that invites the viewer to discover the elements within the painting.

“I grew up surrounded by the Baltic Sea and started sailing from a young age. I had a dream of one day conquering the South Pacific and with my husband we are getting closer.

We sailed in the deep and isolated fjords in the South of Chile and after moving to Sydney, a paradise for sailors, we have cruised up and down the East Coast of Australia many times.

The weather in this part of the world can be brutal and unforgiving if you don’t plan ahead and study the weather forecasts. Sometimes you get caught out in a storm despite all the planning; loud thunder, blinding lightning and 50 knot wind gusts. In those moments I wish to be anywhere else than on the boat and promise myself never to set foot on a sailing boat again. But then the storm passes, the wind eases, the waves dissipate and the sun comes out and sailing is wonderful again.

So why do I love painting the effervescent ocean, the wild sea and the rough weather when I’m so scared of it? Maybe because in that moment when my passion for sailing meets the fear for survival, I feel exhilarated, alive and that’s what I want to convey in my paintings.”