The Dutch artist Hetty van der Linden was born in 1948. She has won international acclaim for her paintings, performances, and theater productions. Affected by the harsh realities of the lives of children in the places she had visited for her international exhibitions, she founded Paint a Future in 2000. Through this charity, children are encouraged to paint their dreams. Van der Linden’s works are usually full of vibrant colors and dancing lines. She restores the human element to expressionism, enabling it once again to convey the immediacy and excitement of real life. Van der Linden has exhibited at venues like Montserrat Gallery in New York, Ra del Rey of Madrid, Paris' Carpe Artem, and Croatia's Grad Grobnik. Her first exhibition was at the Beethoven Hotel in Amsterdam in 1992. Since then, she has exhibited all over Europe and South America, with past shows in the United States.