Amsterdam · International
Fifteen years of art and fashion history, brought into the lecture hall, the exhibition space, and the therapeutic encounter with a work of art. Available for lectures, talks, bespoke workshops, and curatorial consulting in Amsterdam and internationally.
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Dr. Timea Andrea Lelik is an art and fashion historian, curator, writer, and educator whose work moves fluidly between the lecture hall, the exhibition space, and the therapeutic dimensions of art. She holds a Ph.D. in Modern and Contemporary Art History from the University of Amsterdam (2020), where her doctoral research examined the nature of portraiture in the twentieth century through the works of Edvard Munch, Francis Bacon, and Marlene Dumas.
Over more than fifteen years, she has built a practice that crosses institutional and disciplinary boundaries. As a freelance curator, she organized exhibitions in the Netherlands and internationally, directing Paul van Esch & Partners Art Advisory in Amsterdam until 2020 and serving as curator of SHOWROOM from 2015 to 2020. Her critical and scholarly writing has appeared in numerous Dutch and international magazines, among them Metropolis M, Whitewall, and ARTA Magazine, as well as in academic journals and edited volumes published by Valiz, the University of Lisbon, Leiden University, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Bucharest.
She currently serves as Pathway Coordinator & Senior Lecturer in the Fashion History and Theory Department at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy, where she leads curriculum development across three years of the Fashion Design and Fashion Business programs, bringing the same close attention to cultural meaning, identity, and material culture that runs through all of her research. Alongside these roles, she designs and leads Art as Therapy workshops, held monthly at the School of Life Amsterdam and commissioned by festivals, cultural organizations, and institutions elsewhere, drawing on art history's interpretive tools to offer participants new frameworks for self-understanding and reflection.
Dr. Lelik has spent more than fifteen years researching, teaching, and writing about art and fashion, and she brings that scholarly depth to every lecture. She is Pathway Coordinator & Senior Lecturer in the Fashion History and Theory Department at the Amsterdam Fashion Academy, and has presented at conferences from London to Paris, Lisbon, and Leiden. Her expertise spans portraiture, Surrealism, the work of women artists and designers, and the ways dress and image shape identity. Available for guest lectures, masterclasses, and academic symposia: get in touch to discuss your program.
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From festival stages to boardrooms and museum galleries, Dr. Lelik draws on fifteen years of art historical research to show audiences how art and fashion shape the way we live, work, and understand ourselves. She designs bespoke talks and workshop programs for cultural institutions, corporate audiences, private groups, festivals, and educational settings, and developed the monthly Art as Therapy and Drawing as Therapy sessions she continues to lead at the School of Life Amsterdam. Every program is built in close conversation with the client and shaped entirely around its audience and occasion. Available for talks, keynotes, and workshop commissions: get in touch to discuss your event.
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Two intertwined practices: Art as Therapy, where artworks become mirrors for what we feel, fear, desire, and need, and Drawing as Therapy, where the act of drawing itself becomes a way of slowing down and paying attention.
Perhaps you feel anxious, lost, or stuck. Perhaps you are navigating a relationship, a transition, or simply a sense that life could mean more. Whatever brings you here, artworks have something to offer, not as decoration, but as guides.
Dr. Timea Andrea Lelik combines her expertise as an art historian with the therapeutic framework developed by Alain de Botton and John Armstrong in Art as Therapy. She designs each session and workshop herself, and through one-on-one sessions and group programs she helps participants discover the personal meaning that art can hold, and what it reveals about their own lives.
Drawing as Therapy is the practice's second strand. You don't need to be an artist: the act of drawing, slow, attentive, and imperfect, is itself a form of reflection.
A personal one-on-one session built around a question or situation that matters to you. Artworks are chosen as entry points for reflection. Previously offered through the School of Life Amsterdam, these sessions can now be booked privately, directly here.
One-off or multi-session Art as Therapy and Drawing as Therapy programs for organizations, teams, educational institutions, or open community groups. Sessions combine guided looking, discussion, and drawing. Available in Amsterdam and internationally. Group sessions are also ongoing at the School of Life Amsterdam; for the current program, see the School of Life Amsterdam website.
Art as Therapy is growing into its own dedicated space. A new website, focused entirely on this practice, is in development. If you would like to be kept informed, or are interested in collaboration, get in touch.
50+ lectures, talks, workshops, and conferences in Amsterdam, London, Lisbon, Paris, and beyond.
Conference Papers
Public Talks & Workshops (selection)
Art as Therapy and Drawing as Therapy run regularly at The School of Life Amsterdam. These ongoing sessions have taken place continuously since 2023 and are not listed individually below.
A selection of publications across academic journals, books, and international art magazines.
Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Selected Essays and Criticism
Books
This study proposes an understanding of the genre of painted portraiture in the twentieth century that reaches beyond traditional notions of representation based on the Cartesian belief in a unique subjectivity. It analyzes how this new type of portraiture functions in the works of Edvard Munch, Francis Bacon, and Marlene Dumas.
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The papal basilica and Franciscan monastery Maria Radna is one of the most significant religious, cultural, historical, and artistic sites of the historical region of Banat. This volume offers an overarching view of the pilgrimage place from a historic and artistic perspective, for the first time in Romanian.
About the basilica ↗Get in touch for more information about my publications. Contact me →
Selected curatorial projects, The Netherlands and internationally.
January 21 – March 3, 2016
Jimmie Durham & Michael Buthe. A Long Story of Anything and Everything
Exhibition publication
Whether you're looking to book a lecture, commission a bespoke workshop, or simply want to find out more, I'd love to hear from you.
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