#1 Delft station
Commissioned by: Mecanoo architects and Integra Ceilings
Material: aluminium
Year of placement: 2015
The entrance hall features a vaulted ceiling with a historical map of the city and surroundings from 1877, with Delft’s first station just steps away from the new one. The map also shows the city canal, which has returned along Phoenixstraat after the construction of the rail tunnel. The map, measuring approximately 70 by 110 meters, is visible both when entering from the platforms and from the city entrance. The image changes as the traveler walks through the space, as a different part of the image falls into the field of view at each point. The vault consists of 1929 straight and curved aluminum slats 20 cm high and 7 cm wide, placed 30 cm apart. The slats have printed vertical strips on both sides. The floor plan consists of almost 30 million blue dots in total. The specific color Delft blue of the floor plan is precisely matched to the tiles used in the finishing of columns and walls. The ceiling design was overall winner of the Sign+ Award in 2016 and winner in the Architectural Signage category.
#2 Breestraat / Oude Delft
Artist: Els Benjamins (1944); Marian Gobius (1910 – 1994)
Material: bronze
Year of placement: 1999
Mienette, as she was called by family and acquaintances, was the youngest child and the only daughter in the Van der Chijs household. Her parents belonged to the Delft elite: her father came from a well respected merchant family and traded in tea, butter and cheese; her mother was a general’s daughter. Mienette was a prominent member of the women’s society ‘Dorcas’ (1833-1920), which provided support to needy widows, single women and large families. In 1845 Mienette married the Delft preacher Willem Storm, who unfortunately died two months later. As a widow, she then founded a learning and working school for needy girls in Delft on the Verwersdijk. She also traveled around the world; from South Africa and America to Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Mienette Storm was interested in the way of life of women in other countries, and this inspired her to take action in the Netherlands.
For example, she advocated that women should be able to practice ‘men’s professions’. She also urged that secondary schools be opened to both sexes. Because of these matters she became known as an advocate of women’s rights and played a crucial role in women’s emancipation.
In memory of Mienette Storm, a bronze plaque, made by Marian Gobius, was unveiled on her birthplace in 1955. It disappeared, but in 1999 a new one was placed by Els Benjamins. The plaque is based on the original design.
#3 Smitsteeg
Artist: Tijn Noordenbos (1950)
Year of placement: 2021
Tijn Noordenbos started his career as a social worker, but preferred doing something with his hands instead. In 1980 he started his own furniture making and design studio ‘prettig gestoorde meubels’ (loosely translated to eccentric, slightly disturbed furniture). Two years later he opened a gallery and coffee house on the Oude Delft called Uit de kunst (From art), together with his wife Annemiek.
In 2005 he found a new passion as a visual artist. ‘While on vacation, I read a nice book about the life of artists and I thought: I’m going to make art and if it doesn’t work out, it won’t take up as much space as a piece of furniture would. After drawing some figurines with a ruler, as I was still a bit of a furniture maker, I decided to make them bigger. Thus emerged the first series. An acquaintance said to me that he missed a background in my work and so I started to paint on a sheet of wood. As a result, the paintings with the stark dolls style came about. Often my works are somewhat somber, it’s true. I like to paint life at its most ordinary, boring, empty, sad.’
In addition to paintings and objects, Tijn is also involved in street art. In various places all over the city, his colorful work brings a surprising accent to the street scene.
#4 Boterbrug
Artist: Els Benjamins (1944)
Material: bronze
Year of placement: 2002
#5 Oude Delft/Nieuwstraat
Artist: Jan Christoffel Schultsz (Amsterdam 1872-1945)
Material: bronze, wrought iron
Year of placement: 1909
Visual artist Jan Christoffel Schultsz created the artwork in 1909 after winning a design competition for a monument honoring the seventeenth-century natural scientist. Van Leeuwenhoek is best known for the microscope he designed himself, which allowed people to see bacteria for the first time. He also made cutting-edge scientific discoveries, including red blood cells, sperm cells, and the stripe pattern on muscle fibers. He sent his findings to the Royal Society in London, a society of distinguished scientists and thus he became more widely known. On August 26, 1723, Van Leeuwenhoek died in his hometown, almost 91 years old. It is said that on his deathbed he dictated a letter to the Royal Society in which he described the fluttering of his diaphragm so thoroughly that the condition is called Van Leeuwenhoek’s disease. He was buried in the Old Church on August 31, 1723.
In 2018, researchers from Delft University of Technology and Rijksmuseum Boerhaave solved an age-old riddle surrounding Antoni van Leeuwenhoek’s microscopes. They showed that the Delft cloth merchant cum amateur scholar used thin, self-sharpened lenses.
Artist: Jacob Mattheus Cressant (Utrecht 1734-Amsterdam 1794)
Material: stone
Year of placement: 1769
Artist: Hendricus J. (Henk) Etienne (Delft 1895-Den Haag 1968)
Material: stone
Year of placement: 1930
The statue ‘Woman with Flame’ dates back to 1930 and was made by Delft sculptor, medallist and restorer Henk Etienne. He was born in Delft in 1895, studied at the Technical School of Applied Sciences and worked in the city for most of his life. The ‘Woman’ is not a saint, but symbolizes science. The flame is a well-known symbol of the TU and refers to the myth of Prometheus, the titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. This made it possible for humans to make tools and develop. In Delft there are several artworks by Henk Etienne, including the sculpture of poet and critic Dirk Coster in the garden of the Meisjeshuis (see number 5) and ‘Queen Wilhelmina’ (1938) near the Koningsplein (see number 26).
Artist: Henk (Hendricus Johannes) Etienne (1895-1968)
Material: bronze, hard stone
Year of placement: 1963
Sculptor, medallist and restorer Henk Etienne was born in Delft in 1895. He studied at the Technical School of Applied Sciences and for most of his life worked in the city. There are several works of art by Henk Etienne in Delft, including ‘Woman with Flame’ (1930) in a niche of the St. Hippolytus Chapel (see number 4) and ‘Queen Wilhelmina’ (1938) near the Koningsplein (see number 22).
Artist: John (John) Grosman (1916-1970)
Material: brick, concrete, bronze
Year of placement: 1971
#6 Oude Delft
Artist: Richard de Vrijer (1948)
Material: bronze
Year of placement: 2000
was commissioned by the Pieter van Foreest Foundation in 2000.
Richard de Vrijer studied at the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam (1970-1976) and at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam (1976-1978). In addition to free work in bronze and stone, he carries out commissions for individuals, companies and (government) institutions: sculptures, portraits, reliefs and medals.
Richard de Vrijer (1948) studeerde aan de Academie van Beeldende Kunsten in Rotterdam (1970-1976) en aan de Rijksacademie te Amsterdam (1976-1978). Naast vrij werk in brons en steen voert hij opdrachten uit voor particulieren, bedrijven en overheidsinstellingen: beelden, portretten, reliëfs en penningen.
#7 Oude Delft
Material: ceramics
Year of placement: 2011
#8 Passage Phoenixstraat
Material: wall paint
Year of placement: 2006
#9 Kloksteeg
Artist: Micha de Bie
Material: paint
Year of placement: 2019
The colorful artwork consists of two parts. In the first part, buildings are painted in shades of color, as they appear in paintings by the seventeenth-century Delft painter Pieter de Hoogh (1629-±1684). The black and white underside refers to the tiled floors that characterize much of his work. The other part depicts historic Delven people and works of art, such as William of Orange, Hugo de Groot, Pieter de Hoogh and Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. The artwork emphasizes the alley as an intimate passage to the inner city, and as a public space that deserves this attention. With its large size, powerful, angular contours and contrasting colors, the painting is a solid addition. Micha de Bie’s project won the 2019 Le Comte Audience Award from Delfia Batavorum and the newspaper Delft op Zondag.
Micha de Bie started making graffiti around the age of twelve. After his studies at the Grafisch Lyceum Rotterdam he worked at various design agencies as a desktop artist and graphic designer. In the evenings he followed the part-time course in visual communication at the Willem de Kooning Academy. De Bie combines his street art with his work as a graphic designer. De Kloksteeg is not his first work that can be admired in Delft. Previously, he painted the fences that surrounded the garden during the restoration of the New Church in 2013. At DSM on the Wateringseweg, he embellished the back wall of the factory.
#10 Sint Agathaplein
Artist: Wendy Steenks (1983) and Zhang Ling Yun (1974)
Material: porcelain
Year of placement: 2010
Artist: Aquafix Milieu BV
Material: cast iron
Year of placement: 2013
Artist: Arjen Spreeuwers
Year of placement: 2019
Coöperatie Prinsenkwartier Delft held an ideas competition in 2016 for the design of a special object at Agathaplein 4. At the initiative of TOP Delft, Hypo kunstsuper, Kadmium beeldende kunst, Maakbaar stadslab, DelftDesign and Museum Prinsenhof, a center for the creative industry was created where technology, art, design and society are connected. To symbolize this fact, the Prinsenkwartier wanted to make an object on the lifting beam of the facade. Arjen Spreeuwers of SPR Architectuurstudio in Delft won the facade competition. The sculpture, which was unveiled on July 19, 2019, was made possible by Bouwfonds Cultuurfonds.
#11 Agathaplein/tuin Prinsenhof
Artist: Auke Hettema (1927-2004)
Material: basaltic lava, concrete slab, bronze
Year of placement: 2003
Auke Hettema studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam. He studied at the same time as his twin brother Renze Hettema and was taught by sculptor Piet Esser. Hettema began his career as a sculptor of war and resistance monuments. He is known for the war monument in the Prinsentuin in Leeuwarden, Hugo de Groot in Rotterdam and Willem van Oranje in Delft. In 1951 he won the Prix de Rome.
Artist: Marianne Burgers (1959) and Chris Dagradi (1954)
Material: ceramics
Year of placement: 1988
#12 Schoolstraat
Artist: Hans la Hey (1953)
Material: concrete, steel
Year of placement: 1997
Hans la Hey studied at the Royal Academy of Art. Since his graduation in 1976 he has been working as a visual artist.
#13 Schoolstraat
Artist: Hendrick de Keyser (Utrecht 1565-Amsterdam 1621)
Material: stone
Year of placement: 1614
Hendrik de Keyser also designed the tomb of William of Orange in the Nieuwe Kerk (the New Church), the city hall and a gateway for the Latin School, at the time still on the other side of the Schoolstraat. The small statues in the niche were added later. The protective latticework can already be seen on 17th-century engravings.
The Chamber of Charity, founded in 1597 for the care of the poor, is now used by the Museum Prinsenhof for meetings and gatherings. The Chamber and the adjoining garden can also be rented as a wedding location.
#14 Oude Delft
Artist: Pieter Rijckx (1620/1640-1672/1681)
Material: stone
Year of placement: 1658
#15 Heilige Geestkerkhof
Artist: Arie Teeuwisse (1919-1993)
Material: hard stone, natural stone
Year of placement: 1958
Sculptor and illustrator Arie Teeuwisse is among the most prominent figurative artists of the second half of the twentieth century. He is best known for his animal sculptures, but has also often depicted the human figure. From 1963 to 1982 he taught sculpture at the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam. He lived and worked in Amsterdam, but from 1969 on had a second studio in Uffelte. He also made the statue of Stalpaert van der Wiele at the Bagijnhof (number 21).
#16 Oude Delft
Artist: Tijn Noordenbos (1950)
Year of placement: 2002
Tijn Noordenbos started his career as a social worker, but preferred doing something with his hands instead. In 1980 he started his own furniture making and design studio ‘prettig gestoorde meubels’ (loosely translated to eccentric, slightly disturbed furniture). Two years later he opened a gallery and coffee house on the Oude Delft called Uit de kunst (From art), together with his wife Annemiek.
In 2005 he found a new passion as a visual artist. ‘While on vacation, I read a nice book about the life of artists and I thought: I’m going to make art and if it doesn’t work out, it won’t take up as much space as a piece of furniture would. After drawing some figurines with a ruler, as I was still a bit of a furniture maker, I decided to make them bigger. Thus emerged the first series. An acquaintance said to me that he missed a background in my work and so I started to paint on a sheet of wood. As a result, the paintings with the stark dolls style came about. Often my works are somewhat somber, it’s true. I like to paint life at its most ordinary, boring, empty, sad.’
In addition to paintings and objects, Tijn is also involved in street art. In various places all over the city, his colorful work brings a surprising accent to the street scene.
#17 Heilige Geestkerkhof
Artist: Bas Maters (1949-2006)
Material: aluminum, polished, hard stone
Year of placement: 1994
Bas Maters studied at the Academy of Visual Arts in Arnhem from 1966 to 1971. He was a member of the Groep Abals and Teldesign, and became best known as an environmental artist. Maters taught at the Department of Architecture, Design and Monumentalism of the Arnhem Academy. He passed away in 2006.
#18 Voorstraat
Artist: Barbara Termorshuizen
Material: paint
Year of placement: 2021
Barbara Termorshuizen grew up in Pijnacker but currently lives in Delft and has her studio Bart Illustration nearby on the Verwersdijk. Barbara is originally an illustrator, at first working in fashion illustration. But the menus at cafe Hanno at the Doelenplein in Delft are also her design.
#19 Voorstraat
Artist: Nynke Koster (1987)
Material: concrete
Year of placement: 2020
#20 Bagijnhofpoort
Artist: unknown
Material: natural stone
Year of placement: unknown
#21 Bagijnhof
Artist: Arie Teeuwisse (1919-1993)
Material: bronze, natural stone
Year of placement: 1962
Sculptor and illustrator Arie Teeuwisse is among the most prominent figurative sculptors of the second half of the 20th century. He is best known for his animal sculptures, but has also often depicted the human figure. From 1963 to 1982 he taught sculpture at the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam. He lived and worked in Amsterdam, but from 1969 had a second studio in Uffelte. He also made the statue ‘Geertruyt van Oosten’ at the Oude Kerk (number 15).
#22 Hofje van Almonde
Artist: Herman J. van Elteren (1928)
Material: stone
Year of placement: 2007
Herman van Elteren was born in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 1928. He studied at the Middelbare Kunstnijverheidsschool and the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. His teachers were the sculptors Oscar Jespers and Charles Vos. He then attended the Drama School Arnhem, where he graduated in 1960. Van Elteren worked as an actor, designer of costumes and sets, and as a sculptor and illustrator.
#23 Dirklangendwarsstraat
Artist: J. van der Blom and M.C.S. van Meuk
Material: paint
Year of placement: 1976
#24 Kalverbos
Artist: Henk (Hendricus Johannes) Tieman (1921 – 2001)
Material: brick, concrete, ceramics
Year of placement: 2007
Henk Tieman studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. From 1938 to 1982 he worked as a monumental artist in the Building Earthworks department of the Royal Delft Pottery Factory De Porceleyne Fles. After World War II, this department grew rapidly and hired designers of its own. Tieman designed and produced ceramics for numerous buildings in the Netherlands, as well as, for example, cloisonné tiles. For the Delft Public Library he made the colorful glass artwork ‘with the flying books’ in thirteen panels. When the library moved in 2007, the work was given a home in the TU Delft Library. Tieman died in January 2001 at the age of 79 in Rotterdam.
#25 Kalverbos
Artist: Adolf le Comte (1850 – 1921) and Arend Odé (1865-1955)
Material: bronze, sandstone
Year of placement: 1901
Artist: unknown
Material: hard stone, wrought iron
Year of placement: 1845
The most famous grave belongs to Karl Wilhelm Naundorff, who died in 1845. The other graves still in existence are those of the Van Hangest Baron d’Yvoy family (1836), of the Maas Geesteranus family (1847), and the C.A. de Neve grave from 1866.
Naundorff’s grave consists of a horizontal hardstone tombstone inscribed ‘Charles-Louis duc de Normandy’ and an iron fence standing on profiled hardstone plinths with gold-colored French lilies on the fluted cast-iron corner balusters. The tombstone and railings date from 1904 and in that year replaced the original grave components which had fallen into disrepair.
Attached to the grave is a mystery that to this day, despite several investigations, remains unsolved. Karl Wilhelm Naundorff was a bit of everything: watchmaker, inventor, preacher. He also claimed to be the French heir to the throne, Louis XVII. The moment Karl takes the French family to court for not recognizing his identity, they get fed up with him and send him to England. There he designs a powerful bomb, which explodes in his home. He suffers severe burns, runs out of money as a result, and ends up in prison. King Willem II hears about the bomb inventor and invites him to come and live in the Netherlands. The king offers him a studio in Delft, where he can do justice to his inventions: Oude Delft 48. Less than a year later he is found dead here under dubious circumstances. He was probably poisoned. Karl was then buried as if he were indeed the heir to the throne of France. His family also makes a case for this because the money and fame are obviously convenient. However, one piece of evidence after another shows that the story is not true. In 1998 this is officially confirmed by researchers from the University of Leuven. Using DNA tests, they establish after 150 years that it was Karl Wilhelm Naundorff who was an imposter.
#26 Koningsplein / Nieuwe Plantage
Artist: Henk (Hendricus Johannes) Etienne (1895 – 1968)
Material: brick, stone
Year of placement: 1938
Sculptor, medallist and restorer Henk Etienne was born in Delft in 1895, studied at the Technical College and worked most of his life in the city of Delft. He also made the stone sculpture ‘Woman with flame’. It stands in a niche of the Saint Hippolytus Chapel on the corner of Nieuwstraat/Oude Delft (see number 5).
#27 Nieuwe Plantage
Artist: Cor (Cornelis) Dam (1935-2019)
Material: concrete, granite
Year of placement: 1982
Cor Dam studied at the Royal Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague and TU Delft. He worked from 1950 to 1965 as a designer at the Royal Delft Pottery Factory (De Porceleyne Fles), then until 1980 at the Ceramic Ateliers Structure 68 in The Hague and from 1988 as a teacher of Free Modeling at the VAK in Delft.
In his youth Cor was already modeling, drawing and gluing in kindergarten. In fact, he has always continued to do so. Of all his interests, drawing, painting and modeling eventually won out. Cor Dam greatly admired the work of Henri Moore (1898-1986), but was also inspired by the sculptures of Constantin Brâncuşi (1876-1957), Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973) and Hans Arp (1887-1966). Both Cor’s sculptures and paintings have much in common. They are characterized by geometric motifs, of which the triangle is the most important.
#28 Nieuwe Plantage
Artist: Gradus van Eden (1920-2003)
Material: bronze, limestone
Year of placement: 1950
Gradus van Eden was a student of Bon Ingen-Housz and Albert Termote at the Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague. He became a member of the Kunstkring Delft and the Pulchri Studio, and exhibited several times. Van Eden painted and drew, making watercolors and pastels. As a sculptor, he created stone reliefs and bronze sculptures, among other things. For the Dutch pavilion at the New York World’s Fair in 1939 he made polychromed sculptures. Van Eden designed the new logo for the PTT in 1950, which was used as an emblem on uniforms until 1957. Later he was commissioned by the PTT to make sculptures for new telephone exchanges in Appingedam (1956) and Rijswijk (1957).
In addition to his work as an artist, Van Eden taught at the school of arts and crafts in Delft. He lived and worked in Delft until he moved to Lunteren around 1980.
#29 Koningsplein
Artist: Arend Odé (1865-1955)
Material: ceramics
Year of placement: 1910
#30 Anna Boogerd
Artist: Nan Deardorff-McClain
Material: stone, ceramics, glass
Year of placement: 2010
#31 Geerboogerd
Artist: Nan Deardorff-McClain
Material: stone, ceramics, glass
Year of placement: 2010
Nan Deardorff-McClain has been actively involved in city beautification since her arrival in Delft in 2008. Her first project was a bicycle wheel that she decorated with mosaic stones and placed in the flagpole of her house at Pluympot (see number 39). Since then, new mosaics have flowed from her hands every year. Several projects have received the Delfia Batavorum prize (or the Delft op Zondag audience prize) for city beautification. Her latest project is the Ceramic Map of Delft in the Papenstraat (see number 42).
#32 Nieuwe Plantage
Artist: Hans la Hey (1953)
Material: concrete, steel
Year of placement: 1997
Inspired by this story, La Hey designed four sculptures as a ‘tribute’ to Gerards; they are placed so that the Market is the centerpiece. The sculptures represent the four dimensions of space, namely length, width, height and depth. The other works of art are in the Schoolstraat (number 12) and near the Oostpoort (number 57). The sculpture that stood on the Zuidwal has disappeared. Hans la Hey studied at the Royal Academy of Art. Since his graduation in 1976 he has been working as a visual artist.
#33 Oostplantsoen
Artist: Hendrik Albertus van den Eijnde (1869-1939)
Material: stone
Year of placement: 1923
Hendrik Albertus van den Eijnde initially worked as a framer and received drawing lessons from the sculptor Franciscus Leonardus Stracké (1849-1919) at whose studio he worked for several years. He flourished in practice and through free study. Van den Eijnde started his own studio in 1917 and from 1917 to 1923 was a building sculptor with the Government Buildings Agency. From 1919 to 1925 he was editor of art magazine Wendingen. Van den Eijnde lived and worked his entire life in Haarlem. He became especially known as a sculptor of monuments and facade decorations on residential and commercial buildings.
#34 Paardenmarkt
Artist: unknown
Material: paint
Year of placement: 2008
#35 Van der Mastenstraat
Artist: unknown
Material: stone
Year of placement: 1575, 1660
#36 Hoefijzersteeg
Artist: Tijn Noordenbos (1950)
Year of placement: 2021
In 2005 he found a new passion as a visual artist. ‘While on vacation, I read a nice book about the life of artists and I thought: I’m going to make art and if it doesn’t work out, it won’t take up as much space as a piece of furniture would. After drawing some figurines with a ruler, as I was still a bit of a furniture maker, I decided to make them bigger. Thus emerged the first series. An acquaintance said to me that he missed a background in my work and so I started to paint on a sheet of wood. As a result, the paintings with the stark dolls style came about. Often my works are somewhat somber, it’s true. I like to paint life at its most ordinary, boring, empty, sad.’
In addition to paintings and objects, Tijn is also involved in street art. In various places all over the city, his colorful work brings a surprising accent to the street scene.
#37 Voorstraat
Artist: Tijn Noordenbos (1950)
Year of placement: 2020
Tijn Noordenbos started his career as a social worker, but preferred doing something with his hands instead. In 1980 he started his own furniture making and design studio ‘prettig gestoorde meubels’ (loosely translated to eccentric, slightly disturbed furniture). Two years later he opened a gallery and coffee house on the Oude Delft called Uit de kunst (From art), together with his wife Annemiek.
In 2005 he found a new passion as a visual artist. ‘While on vacation, I read a nice book about the life of artists and I thought: I’m going to make art and if it doesn’t work out, it won’t take up as much space as a piece of furniture would. After drawing some figurines with a ruler, as I was still a bit of a furniture maker, I decided to make them bigger. Thus emerged the first series. An acquaintance said to me that he missed a background in my work and so I started to paint on a sheet of wood. As a result, the paintings with the stark dolls style came about. Often my works are somewhat somber, it’s true. I like to paint life at its most ordinary, boring, empty, sad.’
In addition to paintings and objects, Tijn is also involved in street art. In various places all over the city, his colorful work brings a surprising accent to the street scene.
#38 Doelenplein
Artist: Nan Deardorff-McClain
Material: ceramic tiles and mirror glass
Year of placement: 2012
Artist: Wan Liya (1963)
Material: plastic, porcelain
Year of placement: 2013
In January 2019 a van accidentally drove backwards, causing irreparable damage to the artwork. The gigantic ‘vase lamp’ had to be removed. In China a new one was constructed. Since april 2021 the lamp is shining again at the Doelenplein.
Wan Liya was born in Qingdao in Shandong Province, China. He lives and works in Beijing, Jingdezhen and Qingdao. Wan Liya is particularly interested in the materials of ceramics and porcelain. ‘The National Treasure’ (2011) is based on a true story. In 2002, a rare ancient Chinese vase from the Yongzheng period (1723-1735) sold at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong for US$5.3 million. This vase was owned by the president of the Council of American Ambassadors, who in turn had inherited it from his mother. The vase had been in the family’s possession for decades, but they did not know its great historical value and had simply used it as a lamp base. This is not the only case of an old vase being transformed into a utilitarian object: other vases serve as umbrella stands, for example. Wan Liya is fascinated by these kinds of cultural misconceptions or reinterpretations.
Artist: Marianne Neve (1955)
Material: stone
Year of placement: 1996
#39 Pluympot
Artist: Nan Deardorff-McClain and Janet Veenendaal
Material: ceramic tiles and mirror glass
Year of placement: 2010
American-Dutch (Delft) mosaic artist Nan Deardorff McClain of Smashing Tiles Mosaics has been actively involved in city beautification since she came to Delft, in 2008. Several of her projects have received the Delfia Batavorum prize (or the Delft op Zondag audience prize). Her latest project is the Ceramic Map of Delft in the Papenstraat (number 42).
#40 Schutterstraat
Artist: Frans de Wit (1942-2004)
Material: corten steel
Year of placement: 1996
Franciscus Theodorus Alexandros (Frans) de Wit was a sculptor and landscape artist. He studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague from 1960 to 1965 and was part of the so-called Hague School. Frans de Wit was one of the best Dutch sculptors of his generation, along with Carel Visser, David van de Kop, Cornelius Rogge and Lon Pennock. He built up an impressive oeuvre, in which commissions for sculptures in public spaces played a major role.
Artist: AnneMarie van Splunter (1962)
Material: galvanized steel
Year of placement: 1994
Visual artist AnneMarie van Splunter lives and works in Amsterdam. She studied at the Willem de Kooning Art Academy in Rotterdam and the Art Academy in Glasgow.
#41 Choorstraat
Artist: Tijn Noordenbos (1950)
Year of placement: 2019
Tijn Noordenbos started his career as a social worker, but preferred doing something with his hands instead. In 1980 he started his own furniture making and design studio ‘prettig gestoorde meubels’ (loosely translated to eccentric, slightly disturbed furniture). Two years later he opened a gallery and coffee house on the Oude Delft called Uit de kunst (From art), together with his wife Annemiek.
In 2005 he found a new passion as a visual artist. ‘While on vacation, I read a nice book about the life of artists and I thought: I’m going to make art and if it doesn’t work out, it won’t take up as much space as a piece of furniture would. After drawing some figurines with a ruler, as I was still a bit of a furniture maker, I decided to make them bigger. Thus emerged the first series. An acquaintance said to me that he missed a background in my work and so I started to paint on a sheet of wood. As a result, the paintings with the stark dolls style came about. Often my works are somewhat somber, it’s true. I like to paint life at its most ordinary, boring, empty, sad.’
In addition to paintings and objects, Tijn is also involved in street art. In various places all over the city, his colorful work brings a surprising accent to the street scene.
#42 Papenstraat
Artist: Nan Deardorff-McClain (mosaic) and Colja de Roo (ceramics)
Material: ceramics, stone
Year of placement: 2020
#43 Vlouw
Artist: Serge Kortenbroek
Material: painting
Year of placement: 2020
His interest in abandonment and decay is reflected in his work with pieces painted on old rusty metal or damaged wooden boards, often found in abandoned and forgotten buildings.
Serge created the painting on this door in the Vlouw. The large work shows hands holding a number of animals. Animals play an important role in Serge’s daily life and they are a good source of inspiration for him. In his work, he tries to depict animals that are not often portrayed in art. For example, featured on this artwork are (from left to right) a monkey, hare, walrus and a pig. Above them several more insects hover as well as another hare and whale. The hands holding the animals symbolize the hands of Serge himself and they basically present the animals to the viewer.
#44 Halsteeg
Artist: Job Wouters (1980)
Material: paint
Year of placement: 2021
Job Wouters chose text to refer to the Meinema printing house that sat in the 38CC building for decades. Inspired by archival texts about the alley’s users in the past, Wouters has written Middle Dutch taunts in the alley. You can, for instance, read the word “Pompeye,”, the name of William of Orange’s dog. There’s a good chance that it walked around there, considering the Halsteeg was close to the former house of its owner, William of Orange.
The word ‘Avondspronck’ can also be read, which refers to dancing in the streets late at night. The evocative words are hand painted in beautiful letters in hard blue, bright red and jet black; colors used by printers. And so past and present, craft and graffiti, art and design flow together. The neglected Halsteeg, also called the piss alley by the people of Delft, has been given a new allure.
Job Wouters aka Letman (www.letman.com) lives and works in Amsterdam. An extreme letter designer with an international reputation, Wouters is known for his murals at the Bijenkorf store in Amsterdam and at shows by fashion designer Dries van Noten. Wouters makes monumental murals in which text is not just text, but also functions as image. By manually painting words, he develops new fonts and this way his work is situated between art, typography and design.
#45 Bonte Ossteeg
Artist: Hugo Kaagman (1955)
Material: paint
Year of placement: 2013
Artist: Hugo Kaagman (1955)
Material: paint
Year of placement: 2013
#46 Markt
Artist: Frans Stracké (1849-1919)
Material: bronze, granite
Year of placement: 1886
The bronze statue depicts De Groot in his role as a jurist. He wears a gown and holds a law book in his hand. The statue originally stood in the middle of the Markt, but for practical reasons, such as the Taptoe (a performance of music or display of armed forces), it was placed next to the tower of the Nieuwe Kerk in 1954. Many people in Delft felt that this was not the best place for him; therefore this great thinker was moved back to the middle in 1977. During the redesign of the Market Square in 2004, ‘Hugo de Groot’ was thoroughly restored and placed closer to the Nieuwe Kerk.
Franciscus Leonardus Stracké (1849-1919) was a Dutch sculptor, son of Jean Theodore Stracké. He came from a family of artists originally from Germany. His grandfather was the German painter and sculptor Ignatius Johannes Stracké. Gottfried Stracké and Frans Stracké, both sculptors, were his uncles. F.L. Stracké’s best known work is the statue of Hugo de Groot. In addition, in 1889 he made a marble bust of Dr. Schaepman for the Rijksmuseum. The sculptor is considered the teacher of Hendrik Albert van den Eijnde (1869-1939), who became his assistant in 1891. Stracké was awarded the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice by Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903).
#47 Bijbelbrug
Artist: Nina Valkhoff (1983)
Material: paint
Year of placement: 2020
Nina Valkhoff is an illustrator and muralist from Rotterdam. Having worked as a professional muralist for over 20 years, her works can be found in Sweden, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Argentina, Portugal, Mexico, France and Ireland. Nina studied illustration at the Willem de Kooning Art Academy in Rotterdam and her work can be seen worldwide on the streets but also in apartment buildings, restaurants, offices and stores.
Creating large murals is her passion: She loves covering her walls with plants and animals, especially endangered species to make people aware of their existence, to show their beauty but also to point out our selective love for the cute or more ordinary animals. Besides creating murals, Nina likes to paint animals on vintage leather bags. This way, she not only reuses the bags by giving them a new life, she also turns them into a unique piece of art.
#48 Jozefstraat
Material: stone, gold
Year of placement: 2019-2021
#49 Oude Langendijk
Artist: Marcel Smink (1967)
Material: steel and glass
Year of placement: 1998
Sculptor, environmental artist and designer Marcelius Jacobus Franciscus (Marcel) Smink was born in Heumen on July 11, 1967. He studied at the Academy of Visual Arts (Arnhem) and lives and works in Arnhem since 1994.
#50 Oude Langendijk
Artist: Wim T. Schippers (1942)
Material: Concrete, Plaster
Year of placement: 1976
#51 Beestenmarkt
Artist: Rob Brandt (1946)
Material: Earthenware, fired, glazed
Year of placement: 1993
Rob Brandt attended the St. Joost Academy in Breda. After graduating in 1973, his big break came in 1975 with the ceramic Goods Deukbeker. Although his best-known work, Brandt has designed even more utensils. He also focuses on creating statues and works of art. Brandt’s work is included in the collection of several museums, including Rotterdam’s Boijmans van Beuningen and the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem.
#52 Brabantse Turfmarkt
Artist: Hans Kuyper (1955)
Material: bronze, hard stone
Year of placement: 1994
Hans Kuyper was born in Voorburg. He studied at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (sculpture and modeling) and at the Art Academy San Carlos in Mexico City (painting/graphics). Kuyper has placed several sculptures in public spaces, including in Purmerend, Leidschendam and Delft. He also makes spatial still lifes, portraits and smaller full-length figures. He brings together sculpture and painting in his work. The sculpture is modelled, whether or not painted or patinated and executed in bronze or ceramics. His work is about meeting, surviving, recognizing and poetry. Hans Kuyper was nominated for the Dutch portrait prize in 2019. He has his studio at the Rietveld.
#53 Kromstraat
Artist: Shaun Herron
Material: paint
Year of placement: 2005
The cheerful mural of the Delft Water Lilies can be found on the side wall of the corner building that formerly housed the Van der Reijken photography store (Koornmarkt 72). The South African artist Shaun Herron created this work of art around 2005, based on the original by the French painter Claude Monet (1840-1926), the important forerunner of impressionism.
#54 Gasthuislaan
Artist: unknown
Material: bronze, hardstone
Year of placement: 1977
#55 Bastiaanpoort
Artist: Edward Barker
Material: bronze
Year of placement: 1980
#56 Bastiaansplein
Artist: Hugo Kaagman
Material: paint
Year of placement: 2015 / 2016
There are all kinds of things to see, such as windmill Molen de Roos, Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, the Oostpoort, Van Leeuwenhoek’s microscope, references to the VOC, artist Banksy (Parking), the Delft coat of arms, the New Church, Hugo de Groot, the murder of William of Orange, Melkmeisje, tulips, Escher, cartoon characters and even a fisherman in a little boat.
In 2016 Hugo Kaagman returned with a new mural on the second floor of the parking garage. This time choosing the theme Frog Land; a collage of patterns with a story. Frogs as an angle, obsession, concept… See number 45!
#57 Oostpoort
Artist: Hans la Hey (1953)
Material: concrete, steel
Year of placement: 1997
Inspired by this story, La Hey designed four sculptures as a ‘tribute’ to Gerards; they are placed so that the Market is the centerpiece. The sculptures represent the four dimensions of space, namely length, width, height and depth. The other works of art are on Schoolstraat (number 12) and on Nieuwe Plantage (number 32). The sculpture that stood on the Zuidwal has disappeared. Hans la Hey was educated at the Royal Academy of Art. Since his graduation in 1976 he has been working as an artist.
Artist: Henk (Hendricus Johannes) Etienne (1895-1968)
Material: stone
Year of placement: 1931
#58 Sint Sebastiaansbrug
Artist: Nan Deardorff-McClain
Material: stone, ceramic
Year of placement: 2016
More than 200 participants were involved in creating the ceramic mosaic ‘Kandinsky circles’ during five different workshops. Among these enthusiastic volunteers were also students from the nearby Oostpoort School. The black and white Copacabana-style waves are a tribute to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Funding for the project came from Fonds 1818 and a private donation.
Nan Deardorff McClain of Smashing Tiles Mosaics has been actively involved in city beautification since she came to Delft in 2008. Her first project was a bicycle wheel that she decorated with mosaic stones and stuck into the flagpole of her house at Pluympot (see number 39). Since then, new mosaics have flowed from her hands every year and several of her projects have received the Delfia Batavorum prize (or the Delft op Zondag audience prize) for city beautification. Her latest project is the Ceramic Map of Delft in the Papenstraat (see number 42).
#59 Zuidwal
Artist: Gerhard Marcks (1889-1981)
Material: concrete, bronze
Year of placement: 2007
Gerhard Marcks (18 February 1889-13 November 1981) was a famous German sculptor , but he is also known for his drawings, woodcuts, lithographs and ceramics. Marcks died in 1981 in Burgbrohl, Eifel. Ten years earlier, as a tribute, the Gerhard Marcks Haus was established in Bremen. This museum offers a permanent exhibition of his work. The collection consists of 12,000 of his sketches and preparatory drawings, 900 prints and all of his sculptures (about 350).
#60 Asvest
Artist: unknown
Material: paint
Year of placement: unknown
#61 Ham
Artist: Nan Deardorff-McClain
Material: stone, ceramics
Year of placement: 2017
The mosaic is a creation of the American-Dutch (Delft) artist Nan Deardorff-McClain after a design by Claudia Latorre. Volunteers from the Delft MaMa Foundation helped. The wall won the audience award of the Le Comte Prize 2017 of historical association Delfia Batavorum.
Nan Deardorff McClain of Smashing Tiles Mosaics has been actively involved in city beautification since she came to Delft in 2008. Her first project was a bicycle wheel that she decorated with mosaic tiles and put up in the flagpole of her house at the Pluympot (see number 33). Since then, new mosaics have flowed from her hands every year. Several projects have received the Delfia Batavorum prize (or the Delft op Zondag audience prize) for city beautification. Her latest project is the Ceramic Map of Delft in the Papenstraat (see number 42).
#62 Hooikade
Design: Jan de Bie Leuveling Tjeenk (1885-1940)
Material: reinforced concrete, stone and steel
Year of placement: 1932
Bacinol 2 was designed by architect Jan de Bie Leuveling Tjeenk, in the style of the New Building (a movement in modern architecture that values functionality over ornamentation). It consists of reinforced concrete, yellow bricks and – of course – steel windows made by Braat himself. This trademark of the company was something the architect clearly wanted to mirror. Not even a single piece of wood was used in the building!
In the stairwell is a steel elevator with a rare (and now forbidden) open casing. The real eye-catcher, however, is the gigantic full-height stained glass window designed by Hungarian artist Vilmos Huszár (1884-1960). The most unknown member of the art movement De Stijl, Huszár was, in fact, one of the founders and worked closely with Piet Mondriaan and Theo van Doesburg. Not long after its founding, though, the artist detached himself from De Stijl and went his own way.
The name Bacinol 2 suggests the existence of a Bacinol 1 and you’d be right! Unfortunately this building (which was part of Koninklijke Gist- en Spiritusfabriek) had to make way in 2009 for the railroad tunnel of the new Delft railway station. Together the buildings owe their name Bacinol to secret experiments conducted during the Second World War. Penicillin, which had just been invented, was tested in the building and to prevent the Germans from getting their hands on the medicine, the factory produced under the code name Bacinol.
Restaurant Huszár is located on the first floor and named after the artist of the stained glass work, is also worth a visit. Just like exhibition space De Salon, responsible for exhibiting contemporary artists. A nice touch is that the grandfather of this family business used to be a hussar (soldier on horseback). His mega-photo is incorporated into the glass wall in the café.
The building overlooks the Kolk, where Johannes Vermeer painted his Gezicht op Delft (View of Delft).
#63 Hooikade
Design: Joost Konings
Material: paint
Year of placement: 2021
Joost Konings paints (mainly using oil paint) but also airbrushes. Working on commission, he does portraits as well as wall, furniture and ceiling paintings. Atelier Konings gives workshops and modules in painting and body painting to various institutions, companies, schools (ROC Amsterdam, training for all-round make-up artist) and individuals.
Joost Konings has been associated with Stichting Kunstdoelen Delft since 2004, whose name has changed to Stichting Beeldende Kunsten Delft, popularly known as Kadmium. He has his studio in Bacinol 2 on the Hooikade.
#64 Hooikade
Design: Thomas Elshuis
Material: aluminum, plastic, stainless steel, lighting
Year of placement: 1999
Vermeer’s canvas actually shows very little of the city. Instead, there is mainly water and sky with beautiful light, reflections and shadows. According to Thomas Elshuis, Gezicht op Delft is therefore not a cityscape: it is all about light and water. Commissioned in the Vermeer Year of 1996, Elshuis marked this historic location with a work of art.
During Vermeer’s time, some technical discoveries concerning perception and light were made. For example, the English scholar Isaac Newton showed that white light when refracted breaks down into all the colors of the rainbow (the prism). Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Vermeer’s fellow townsman, tinkered with lenses and built the first powerful microscope. It is therefore not inconceivable that such discoveries influenced Vermeer. After all, he also made use of the camera obscura (Latin for darkroom).
All of this, Elshuis brings together in his Panorama. Trained as an architect, he made the transition to the visual arts in the 1990s with a series of folly’s, meaning structures without function. But even then, photography had his attention. Panorama is a photographic work that zooms in on Vermeer’s clouds and the sand on the banks of the river Schie. Drops of water magnify the grains of sand, and at the bottom of the image the colors of the prism appear. Elshuis’s Panorama creates an intimate space while at the same time providing a broad view: that of the city itself but also of the technical innovations that have come to fruition in Delft in the past and present.