Creating The Madonna of The Hague (2015)

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Culmination

The Madonna of The Hague (2015) is the culmination of the many previous graphite pencil drawings (14 variations on the same theme) and is directly derived from Nude -03-05-15. This one is heavily influenced by Tamara de Lempicka conical shapes and Kazimir Malevich’s suprematism. To counterbalance blues en purples I decided to introduce a sphere of saturated orange in her lower part. It almost functions as a chakra on fire.

The Hague

The structure on the left in the back is a depiction of the Hoftoren at The Hague, Netherlands and is the view I have from my balcony at the other side of the apartment. I fantasized a nude sitting on that balcony. The Venus of Milo, The Rokeby Venus, The Madonna of … and other names gave me the inspiration to give The Hague her rightful Venus or Madonna as well.

Inside My Head

And so had I the idea to use one of my metal Chinese balls I use to relax my hands and pulse with. I was not yet satisfied by the forms that, even though i was content with the interrelations, still did not expressed what I tried to convey. Convey what? The Hague in the background, the heavily abstracted forms: It could use something surrealistic. The metal ball looked like the shape of the head and when I saw it on my desk I came up with my head inside the model’s head. The realist depiction is like a portal to another world, something that I emulated in future art works to come.

Oil on wood panel (85 x 120 x 0.9 cm)
Artist: Corné Akkers