Van Abbemuseum vitrine: selection Willem van den Hoed - at Piet Hein Eek

For his works, artist Willem van den Hoed hires hotel rooms in skyscrapers for a few days. He stays between the eightieth and ninetieth floor, so he can capture the breathtaking views of the city at which he is staying at that moment, through the window of his hotel room. His photographs can currently be seen in the Coming Home exhibition at the gallery Piet Hein Eek.

For this exhibition, Van den Hoed has made a selection out of the works from the Van Abbemuseum collection, which is exhibited in the Van Abbemuseum vitrine. The first work is a photo made by JCJ Vanderheyden, on which the sunrise can be seen from an airplane. The second work Van den Hoed has chosen, is the oil painting Eendenfamilie by the artist Willem Maris. Van den Hoed said the following about the selection of these works:

"Two dark works: a painting consisting of hundreds of paintstrokes and a photograph that has been exposed in a fraction of a second." In the lower half of the works, the duck family and the jet engine are cinematographically illuminated by the same sun. The flights to East Asia are mostly during the night, and I have seen the sun rise gloriously from the left window multiple times. Last summer I took a day flight with my Korean wife and our newborn son. Only when writing these sentences I realize that both ducks and planes have wings."

Read more about the exhibition Coming Home by Willem van den Hoed at the gallery Piet Hein Eek here.