News

All news items

Maasvlakte 2 gets its own legend in a drawn photographic story

The starting point for Van Eeden's new work is the sinking of the ship De Cornelia Maersk in 1942 in the North Sea at the location of Maasvlakte 2. Van Eeden has created a visual story based on archive photographs from, for example, the shipping company in Copenhagen. A grim legend drawn in black and white that combines fact and fiction and photography and draughtsmanship. There will be a publication of the same name to accompany the series.

The Port of Rotterdam Authority, the Nederlands Fotomuseum and SKOR (Foundation Art and Public Space) commissioned Van Eeden to make the series.

Facts and fiction
Marcel van Eeden is internationally renowned for his narrative series of drawings and paintings, which are based on photographs taken before his birth. A large part of his work consists of visual stories in which Van Eeden combines historical fact and fiction. The same characters keep reappearing in different circumstances. As a result, the visual stories can be ‘read' either separately or as part of his complete oeuvre. Van Eeden draws in a very distinctive, slightly grim black and white style.

Marcel van Eeden: "The Maasvlakte 2 area has virtually no history, it's like a blank page. For me, that gives it an extra dimension. I'm taking the sinking of the Cornelia Maersk in 1942 as the starting point for a story and giving the area its own history or legend as it were."

Last year the artist carried out some historical research and found, for example, photographs of the Cornelia Maersk at the shipping company's head office in Copenhagen. Because Marcel van Eeden does extensive field work prior to each new series of drawings, it is not clear to the viewer where fact ends and fiction begins.

Marcel van Eeden enjoys an international reputation and has exhibited in scores of museums and galleries in Europe and North America.

The complete series of drawings

• Book (Dutch/English) € 9.95, also for sale in the museum shop, 10% discount for those with an annual season ticket for the Fotomuseum during the exhibition. ISBN 978-90-801072-3-6
  Website marcelvaneeden.nl

Maasvlakte 2 art commissions
Each year, the Fotomuseum in conjunction with the Port of Rotterdam Authority and SKOR commissions a photographer, film producer or visual artist to record the construction of the Second Maasvlakte. Previously, photographer Dorothée Meyer made a photo series in this connection of the coastline of the existing Maasvlakte. After Dorothée Meijer, visual artist Marcel van Eeden was given an assignment, which he will be presenting in the Fotomuseum. Subsequent commissions have been awarded to Rosa Barba and Erik Wesselo.

Page updated at: 05-24-2010