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| The studio in Fåglavik, Sweden | Jan van den Bergen | The working
desk
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| Jan van den
Bergen, born 1938 in Laren, Netherlands. After studies at the Rietfeldt
Academy Amsterdam he travelled extensively in Europe and the USA, to see
the considerable world of Art and Architecture which he found there and
which fascinated him. He lived for a longer period in France, Italy,
Greece and Israel to work on his own paintings. During those years he
developed a very personal style strongly influenced by this warm
countries light and landscape. His works have gone through constant
changes and have become an increasingly contemporary contemplative
visualizing. The artist is living in Sweden since 1981. The brilliant
Swedish light and nature has influenced his choice of colours and use of
materials. His visions and his fantasies are always connected with his
interest in dreaming, love for plants, animals and birds and for his
fascination with Folklegends and Fairytailes.
To mention only a few places from his long list of exhibitions, Toronto, Oslo, Stockholm, Gothenburg, New York, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv and many other cities. Besides the painting his sculptures are constructed from branches of the forest, plaster and clay. He also makes dolls and dollhouses. He draws and paints on marmor. He has done decor and costume designs for modern as well as for classical ballets, among others the Nutcracker, Cinderella and Coppelia. He creates fable-fantasy icons and triptychs.
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| Nathasha | Ruddy
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| Since 1988 Jan van
den Bergen lives in Sweden in a house built in timber from the
second half of the 19th century. The house has been a
country store in the village Fåglavik outside of Herrljunga. The
store has become Jan van den Bergen’ s studio. Fåglavik is
historically known for its glassblowers who created a beautiful
glassware factory that attracted a continual stream of visitors.
In this beautiful village surrounded by the Nordic forests the artist lives
with, Nathasha the yellow headed
amazon parrot and Ruddy the small baraban parrot.
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| Icons and triptychs | Elisabeth Hesselblad birthplace | The
reading room
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| The house he lives in is declared a relic of culture. It is interesting to know
that Elisabeth Hesselblad born 1870, in this house would
reinstate a new branch of the Birgitta Order. She died in Rome in
1957. In March 1998 Pope Johannes Paulus II declared that because
of Elisabeth Hesselblad’s heroic virtues the Vatican
considers to canonize her and in 9 April 2000 in Rome she was beatified by
Johannes Paulus II.
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