Hendrik Petrus Berlage, 2023

The sculpture “Hendrik Petrus Berlage” by French artist Xavier Veilhan is a tribute to the Dutch architect Berlage. Berlage is often considered the father of modern architecture in the Netherlands. In the 1920s he defined the area surrounding this office building with his Plan Zuid, a revolutionary urban development plan.

The oeuvre of Xavier Veilhan, who was born in 1963, includes sculptures, paintings, installations, performances, photography and video. His formal language is very diverse. Veilhan has a fascination for architecture, music and human figures and enjoys mixing traditional techniques with modern technology. He did the same with this image.

The starting point for the bronze bust was an existing photo of a drawing of Berlage. An actor in similar clothing assumed Berlage’s pose and Veilhan made a 3D scan of it. The model of this scan was then machine milled from wood and then cast in bronze. Veilhan says about the image: “The shape of this image emerges from the building’s surroundings, the activities and the people. It’s about architecture, urban development and a building where people come to work. The statue celebrates a period far removed from our own, and which heralded a modern era in a way that we may think about differently today than we did a hundred years ago.”