Boiler House Wall Decorations, Selwerd (Muurdecoraties ketelhuizen Selwerd)

About this artwork.

The three former boiler houses for block heating on the Gelderse Roosstraat, Eglantierstraat and the Esdoornlaan have wall art of colorful glazed bricks on one side, a design by the Groningen artist Siep van den Berg. They are geometric compositions in the primary colors red, yellow and blue, supplemented with black and white. Van den Berg plays with a contrast between clean lines and colored surfaces.

Van den Berg made a total of 29 works for Selwerd. He was involved in the development of the neighborhood from the beginning in the 1960s. In addition to the three works on the former boiler houses, the artist designed 26 facade mosaics for both flats and houses that can be seen spread across the district. In the geometric structures we can see a playful echo of the orderly layout of Selwerd, which is characteristic of post-war residential areas.

Siep van den Berg started painting freely around 1935 and subsequently developed as an artist from pure naturalism, via impressionism and cubism to constructivism, in which the pure representationless manner of expression is characteristic. In the seventies of the twentieth century he made various sculptures and wall paintings. Geometry was his source of inspiration. Again and again the artist varied horizontally and vertically, with lines and blocks – using only the colors red, yellow, blue, black and white. At the same time, he brought dynamism and rhythm to the work through the pattern of shapes and colours.

Facts & Figures.

• Design
  Siep van den Berg

• District
  Selwerd

• Year of creation
  1963

• Art type
  Art in / on a building, Tableau

• Material
  Brick, Glazed brick

• Dimensions
  h 3,10 x b 7,30 m