Hendrik de Vries Monument

About this artwork.

This statue is a tribute to the Groningen poet and visual artist Hendrik de Vries (1896-1989). The figure, consisting of De Vries' head and a strangely composed torso, evokes an atmosphere that is in keeping with the artist's poems and paintings. Anyone who becomes absorbed in his work ends up in an ominous dream world. Desolate volcanic landscapes, evil fairy tales, the fiery charm of Spain (the land of his travels and dreams), yearning for eroticism and threatening female figures are the main themes in De Vries' work.
 
Norman Burkett has worked out all these elements in the statue. The bronze statue shows a kind of dream figure with the head of Hendrik de Vries. The strangely composed torso consists of a number of elements that on closer inspection are more or less recognizable. For example, the hunchbacked figure with bare buttocks is partially shrouded in a cape of a bullfighter who is at the same time a magician's pouch and a dragon's wing. On his back are also a lion's head, a boy's face, an eye, and the skeleton of a hand.    
 
The location of the statue was not chosen by chance. Hendrik de Vries worked for many years at the Groningin Municipal Archives, which at the time were located in the Sint Jansstraat. He must have been a conspicuous figure at the time. De Vries always walked, whether it was summer or winter, in a shirt with a Schiller collar (opening collar). And when he had to bring files to City Hall, he carried them – so the story goes – on his head.

Facts & Figures.

• Design
  Norman Burkett

• District
  Centrum

• Year of creation
  1987

• Art type
  Monument, Freestanding sculpture

• Material
  Bronze

• Dimensions
  h 2,50 m