Chris Lily James is a contemporary Dutch painter based in Portugal. After a Master's degree at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, she worked as a strategist at advertising agencies and as a fashion and lifestyle writer for women's magazines around the world, from Amsterdam to Cape Town, from New Orleans to Lisbon.

When she lost her job during Covid, she started drawing and painting everything around her, not realizing at first that she had a talent for it. Her work found an audience on social media, and what began as detailed architectural ink drawings has since evolved into large figurative paintings.

Having seen much of the world, Chris is a keen observer of people, their cultures, habits, and daily lives. In her paintings, she captures the moments when people are doing what they love, when they light up and feel completely themselves. She strips away all distractions, placing the person alone against a plain but colorful background, with playful details, like a bottle of champagne or a favorite toy, that bring the moment to life.

She's noticed that this happiness is contagious: when someone lights up, it inspires those around them. That's her goal too, to make the world a little happier, one painting at a time.