Hendrik Pieter Pander was born in 1937 in Haarlem, The Netherlands, the first of ten children of the artist Jacob (Jaap) Pander and Hendrica Smedes Pander. Henk joined his father on drawing and watercolor painting expeditions to the Haarlem dunes, and by the time he enrolled in Amsterdam’s Rijksacademie in 1956, he was accomplished in drawing and painting. His training provided him with skills that related to Dutch art extending back to the seventeenth century as well as to twentieth-century movements such as Expressionism and Surrealism.
Pander arrived in Portland in 1965 and, except for brief periods, has lived there ever since, creating works that challenge status quo modern art of the Pacific Northwest. In his drawings, watercolors, and oil paintings, Pander depicts subjects ranging from contemporary scenes of history such as the wreck of the New Carissa to the ruins of Ground Zero, and from the skylines of Portland and Amsterdam to exquisite still-lifes and gorgeous Northwest landscapes painted en plein air. His work is represented in major museum collections all over the United States, in Amsterdam's prestigious Rijksmuseum and decorates the walls of many of Portland's most beautiful homes.