Foundation Art and Public Space
artist: Gé-Karel van der Sterren
located in: Streekziekenhuis Het Spittaal,
client: Streekziekenhuis Het Spittaal
The Waterfall stretches down the entire wall of the stairwell in Zutphen’s hospital, Het Spittaal. It portrays a sumptuous tableau of bubbling water, tropical flowers and exotic (aquatic) animals. With his depiction, Van der Sterren aimed to counterbalance the hospital’s static and cold architecture. In addition to this he wanted to portray the life cycle that people in hospitals are confronted with in both a positive as well as negative sense.
Gé-Karel van der Sterren
The Waterfall
photo:Gert Jan van Rooij
At first the painting took up the top six floors of the building. However the staff members working on the ground floor and in the basement signed a petition to extend the waterfall to their floors. For this final addition, Van der Sterren painted an underwater tableau that was added to the bottom of the waterfall a few months later.
On the artist’s website * click on ‘movie’ to see a moving image of the entire painting.
