Untitled (1993)

The artwork

Daan van Golden’s mural Untitled  is part of a series of paintings he titled Heerenlux. All the works consist of a red floral pattern on a white background. It is a motif that Van Golden has used in a number of works at different sizes, zooming in or out, in a diamond or rectangle. The variations of the same motif give them different ideas of abstraction, rhythm and repetition. And meanwhile, it is also dead simple wrapping paper that he painted after. Works from the Heerenlux series are included in collections of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and Museum Voorlinden, among others.

Because this Rotterdam mural has hung outside since 1993, the work had faded considerably over the years. In 2016, the work was restored by Atelier Leo Mineur. Scratching in the underlayers, a pinkish red was found, but this turned out not to be the correct color. Eventually the exact paint numbers could be traced: not rose red, but lacquer red. Just that deep red, warm without having that loveliness of that pink, makes the work as powerful as it was again. In the summer of 2017, this mural by Van Golden and eight other ornamental frames containing restored and new works of art were completed in Rotterdam’s Katendrecht neighborhood. These paintings were realized on the occasion of the Cape Color project, a collaboration between Verhalenhuis Belvédère and BKOR.