The Madonna of The Hague (2015)

Culmination

The Madonna of The Hague (2015) is the culmination of the many previous graphite pencil drawings (14 variations on the same them) 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

Click here for the story behind this artwork (link opens in new tab):

https://corneakkers.com/the-madonna-of-the-hague-2015/