Ellen Nerbonne was born in Munich and grew up near Freiburg. She attributes her love of art and nature to the influence of her father, “Butz”. She studied art in Freiburg, Ohio, and San Francisco, and she won a prize in 1981 to study (Chinese) water colors in Taiwan. She has also taught art and communication, instructing at all levels from pre-school to technical college (polytechnic).
As the photos of her artwork in this website show, she has focused on paintings of nature and on still lifes, working in a variety of media. Ellen’s art proceeds from her own imaginative interaction with her subject matter, from which it aims to involve the observer as well in order to reveal aspects of the subject matter — whether natural or man-made — that might be especially attractive, surprising or stimulating. Like all modern art, her work conveys ideas, but always with the ambition to enjoy the “vitality” Wallace Stevens attributes to art robustly engaged with the real world (The Necessary Angel, 1951).
Ellen now lives again near Freiburg, and when she’s not painting or enjoying time with her family and garden, she can be found hiking or biking in nearby natural preserves.
Press
A recent exhibit (12/2025 through 1/2026) was held at Cafe Panorama in Denzlingen, which was covered by a local newspaper, Regio Trends. The café distributed a flyer by way of announcement. A 2019 exhibition at the Senior Center in Gundelfingen was reviewed once (in German) by the Freiburg newspaper Badische Zeitung, which can be seen here, and by a local (Gundelfingen) weekly available here.
Astrid Müller, Difoma, took all the photos of the paintings..
Contact
Reactions are very welcome, and we can quote prices, dimensions and media for the different works (those without the red ball🔴). If you are interested, just mail Ellen, auch in Deutsch!