Is there a huge person needing help in the water? Or is this person with huge hands coming out of a submarine? Is he or she about to clap?
This picture is taken in 's Hertogenbosch (or Den Bosch) in The Netherlands. Den Bosch, as the shortened name is often used, is a small city in the province of Brabant. I documented the city for the Caravannen! Magazine.
Tearsheets from Caravannen! Magazine. Photography by Anahí Clemens and text by Marije Smith.
I liked it so much that I went back with some dear people to re-discover, this time analogue. I won't share here more about that tour but mostly about the first image I took when testing a Minolta camera that I recently got from Marktplaats. One of my favourite things about the city is the surrealism added by the street artworks based on the paintings of Jheronimus Bosch. Jheronimus Bosch is a Dutch painter. In many unexpected places of the city you can find artworks like the one in this image. Sometimes in a channel, sometimes at a house, sometimes at a bridge or in secret garden that you only find if you are lost.
As quoted from Wikipedia: "His work, generally oil on oak wood, mainly contains fantastic illustrations of religious concepts and narratives. Little is known of Bosch's life, though there are some records. He spent most of it in the town of 's-Hertogenbosch, where he was born in his grandfather's house.His pessimistic fantastical style cast a wide influence on northern art of the 16th century. Today, Bosch is seen as a highly individualistic painter with deep insight into humanity's desires and deepest fears."
Last year I got gifted the book of his artworks and since then I have been learning more about him. Specially when walking around Den Bosch, one gets to experience different creatures and figures taken out of his paintings and the walk in the city feels magical, not only for the works of this painter but also because of the old architecture and general charm of this cute place. There is, somewhere in summer, a parade all based on these paintings! People dress up as such and decorate their boats in surreal ways too. How wonderful isn't it? I wish some of the old painters would be alive again for a couple of hours at least to see all the experiences based on the expressions of their minds, that keep on shaking our own minds with the concepts presented, challenging potential realities and making our own much more fun.
I recommend to make a game out of it and go discover the hidden artworks around the city of this unique painter. I leave you with one of his most famous paintings "The Garden of Earthly Delight".
Thank you for reading!
Anahí
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