The city of Eindhoven is located in the south of the Netherlands. With almost a quarter of a million inhabitants Eindhoven is number five in size in the Netherlands. It had some fame as the hometown of the multinational company Philips and football club PSV.
I was in this city for a four-day course of the gentle master painter Cornelis Le Mair.
In the evening I walked to the Churchill Boulevard (≈ ‘laan’ in Dutch) and the Orwell Lane (≈ ‘straat’ in Dutch). I especially wanted to see these because I made paintings in honor of those great men.
Both roads made a special impression on me.
Churchill
The photo above is of the road named after the greatest statesman ever. Because of the nasty, imposing impression this Churchill Boulevard made on me, it could have been named after Hitler or Stalin as far as I’m concerned. My tribute to Winston Spencer Churchill features on the website OldDutchPainter.works as symbol of civilisation and ‘What Did Winston Do‘ (WDWD) forms the entrance and main category within ‘History’. This road is located in the district with names of numerous generals. On this road I also found this building with the curious name ‘The Gray General‘. Even more curious was this scene that I saw behind the windows on the second floor. On closer inspection I saw that it was a sculpture group. The building offers housing and facilities for well-to-do elderly. When the building was completed, this sculpture group stood in the enormous hall on the ground floor. Placed on the second floor, it produces a truly surreal image.
To arrive at this boulevard I had to cross an insanely huge mall. Below a photo of a detail.
Orwell
Because of the loveliness of the Orwell lane you would rather expect a name from someone writing happily ever after novels instead of the visionary author of ‘Animal Farm’ and ‘1984’. As a British social democrat with the most informed, strongest rejection of communism, Orwell is, in my view, more timely than ever. Hence my recently completed tribute to him:
Narendra Modi
In the course itself I worked on the portrait of a great man who is still alive. The very popular prime minister of the worlds’ biggest democracy: Narendra Modi. After three days into the course I was at about 25%. I learned a lot from Cornelis: this might turn out my best painting so far!
I also painted tributes to Frank Zappa, the brothers Johan and Cornelis de Witt, Donald Trump, Tulsi Gabbard, JKRowling and Steven Crowder. In- and outside the USA several roads named after Frank Zappa can be found. In the Netherlands alone at least two: in Middelburg and in Tilburg.
No boulevards or lanes are named after Steven Crowder, the great JKRowling or Tulsi Gabbard. Boulevards or lanes named after Narendra Modi can not yet be found outside India. Take note that in the beginning of this century he was even formally declared persona non grata in both the USA and the UK!
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