Edite Grinberga was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1965. She was a student at Janis Rozentals Riga Art School from 1975 until 1982 and studied painting and textile design at the State Academy of Art in Riga as of 1983. Following her studies, she initially worked freelance as an independent artist in Riga.
Since 1990 she has lived and worked in Berlin. In 2011 she spent some time at the Santa Fe Art Institute in New Mexico, USA, in connection with a scholarship.
In her depictions of interiors and still life motifs, Edite Grinberga conjures up quiet moments recounting various trips and the past with the aid of representational hyperrealism and minimalistic reduction. In particular, the interplay of light and shadow plays a very important role in Grinberga’s works. The manner in which light seems to fall accidentally is part of her meticulously planned composition. Everyday objects, such as a chair, a book or a piece of clothing, are showcased completely in line with the tradition of Dutch 17th century paintings of interiors, but nevertheless in an entirely modern fashion – arranged in almost empty rooms or placed on individual pieces of furniture like a chest or drawers or a bed. That triggers small, exciting stories in the imagination of the viewer. For example, a passport lying on a bed tells a story about hotel rooms and experiences in faraway places or an open suitcase in an empty room provides cryptic clues about the life of an unknown person.
In some pictures, panels of fabric generate fascinating dynamics in spite of the quietness that is conveyed. In some of her works, the artist creates art history references by means of intericonicity – i.e. the “picture within a picture” method – for example to the works of Vermeer. In that way, Grinberga integrates depictions of people which relate stories of past times and the beauty of the moment into her works.
The works of the artist have already been on display at various solo and group exhibitions. In 2008 several of her pictures were shown at an exhibition at the Waldemarturm tower in Dannenberg-Elbe. In 2013 her works were on display at the art societies Kunstkreis Hameln, Kunstverein Schöningen and Kunstverein zu Hohenaschau, among others.
Her works can be found in numerous private and public collections, for example at the State Art Fund of Latvia.