“Destiny is the city where I was born” said the painter one time.
And Kees Van Dongen was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, although I guess he always knew it was not the place to be. He moved to Paris soon, after graduating in the Fine Arts Academy and started a frenetic life with very different stages, houses, friends, models. After studying his life I have the feeling that It was at least three or four different Van Dongen through his life.
But this project is not about Van Dongen, or at least, not only about Van Dongen. But the metaphor about the different Van Dongen is the spirit of this work, a whole life, a whole story with different layers.
The main character of this tale is not the painter but his work, ‘Place Vendôme’, an etching probably dated on 1937. A delicated scene of the parisian place with quicky lines that make contrast with the two main figures, that seem to walk very slow.
Discover by my father in 1995 in Castilforte (a little village of Guadalajara, Spain) inside an old house that had been in the first half of the century, summer residence of a very special family: the Mancebo Díaz. The father, Andrés, was a politician during the II Republic of Spain (1931-1939). When the Civil War began, Andrés and his wife went to Paris and began their exile. They never came back to Spain.
The daughter Carmen sold the house to my parents in 1995 -when I was 4-. It was special for my family because my grandma got to meet the Mancebo and they were important and beloved in the village. Also my father is a strong supporter of the Republican cause.
And this is the scenario where the etching appears. In one of the rooms, dirty and abbandoned between some old newspapers. No one knew who was that Van Dongen who claimed to be the artist in the signature.
We have four different places well connected to each other trough the object, the etching, but also through me. We have four different characters, and four different stories. Four different layers.
The stories are interesting by themselves, but work so much better when they are understood together. But, for the analysis and research the new artist -that is me- has to separate each one and study them like a policemen, like a detective, like a surgeon, like a doctor.
And this is how the case begins. Feel welcome to investigate as well and enjoy following my steps. Please tell this story to everyone you want. Transform it, change it. If you don’t remember something just make up another fact or another name.
This work is about history, politics and society but also about verbal communication and how information is transmited by human being. Goes deep into one of the most amazing capacities of people from all times: telling stories.
And Kees Van Dongen was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, although I guess he always knew it was not the place to be. He moved to Paris soon, after graduating in the Fine Arts Academy and started a frenetic life with very different stages, houses, friends, models. After studying his life I have the feeling that It was at least three or four different Van Dongen through his life.
But this project is not about Van Dongen, or at least, not only about Van Dongen. But the metaphor about the different Van Dongen is the spirit of this work, a whole life, a whole story with different layers.
The main character of this tale is not the painter but his work, ‘Place Vendôme’, an etching probably dated on 1937. A delicated scene of the parisian place with quicky lines that make contrast with the two main figures, that seem to walk very slow.
Discover by my father in 1995 in Castilforte (a little village of Guadalajara, Spain) inside an old house that had been in the first half of the century, summer residence of a very special family: the Mancebo Díaz. The father, Andrés, was a politician during the II Republic of Spain (1931-1939). When the Civil War began, Andrés and his wife went to Paris and began their exile. They never came back to Spain.
The daughter Carmen sold the house to my parents in 1995 -when I was 4-. It was special for my family because my grandma got to meet the Mancebo and they were important and beloved in the village. Also my father is a strong supporter of the Republican cause.
And this is the scenario where the etching appears. In one of the rooms, dirty and abbandoned between some old newspapers. No one knew who was that Van Dongen who claimed to be the artist in the signature.
We have four different places well connected to each other trough the object, the etching, but also through me. We have four different characters, and four different stories. Four different layers.
The stories are interesting by themselves, but work so much better when they are understood together. But, for the analysis and research the new artist -that is me- has to separate each one and study them like a policemen, like a detective, like a surgeon, like a doctor.
And this is how the case begins. Feel welcome to investigate as well and enjoy following my steps. Please tell this story to everyone you want. Transform it, change it. If you don’t remember something just make up another fact or another name.
This work is about history, politics and society but also about verbal communication and how information is transmited by human being. Goes deep into one of the most amazing capacities of people from all times: telling stories.