The American Indian is a recurring theme in the work of Theo van de Goor.This American indian on horseback is an hommage to the indigenous people of America. The Crow were known as "the beautiful people". French trappers were the first to meet this indian tribe. They were impressed by the way the Crow were dressed and painted. The Crow indians looked impressive on their war horses.
The world of Greek and Roman mythology is full of wonderful stories about strange creatures, fauns and nymphs, centaurs, gods and halfgods - and so this world is a source of inspiration for Theo. Diana, goddess of the hunt (the Greek goddess Artemis) is represented here with in the background the misfortunate hunter Aktaioon whom she has turned into a stag. Punishing him for seeing her in the nude while she was bathing. Aktaioon (the stag) gets hunted down by his own companions. The work of Theo van de Goor is predominantly figurative.
Greek mythology is a source of the most wonderful stories. This painting tells the story of Zeus who as a kid was hidden in the woods. His father Kronos would have killed and eaten him as it was predicted to him that one day one of his sons would put an end to his reign. Zeus was nursed by a divine goat.
The world of Greek and Roman mythology is full of wonderful stories about strange creatures, fauns and nymphs, centaurs, gods and halfgods. These stories are a source of inspiration for Theo van de Goor. Cerberus is the fearful hound that guards the gates of hell. This etching of the beast with its many heads appears in Theo van de Goor's first picture book with drypoint etchings called "Het prentenboek van de duivel". It is a story of the artist on an imaginary voyage to hell. This book is sold out, but fortunately some single etches are still available.
The artist Theo van de Goor was raised in a small village in "de Peel", a region in the Netherlands where the religion was mainly Roman Catholic. The locals were told by the clergyman that everybody had a guardian angel. Theo van de Goor has always thought his guardian angel must have been black for he didn't feel very lucky in life. Maybe now and then the angel dropped a golden feather. Theo decided to make an object of the idea of that black guardian angel. And to his surprise the object turned out to be very colourful. Various scenes from his youth can be seen on the wings of this object f.i. his father on the tractor, the village church under a bright yellow moon, etc. And on top of the Guardian Angel's wings there are rays of sunlight breaking through the clouds!
In this painting two moments from Theo van de Goor's childhood are mixed together. Once a missionary visited his primary school. Theo was a boy of seven years old. The missionary, probably on a fundraising tour, preached about his mission in Africa and showed some pictures. These images left quite an impression on the young boy seeing that strange and exotic world. At about the same time his brother and a friend had done some mischief and were dragged by their ears across the schoolyard by the head teacher. In "The evil missionary" these two impressions are brought together. This painting is intended to be a humerous work about the missionary.
The artist Theo van de Goor is a great admirer of the work from Vincent van Gogh, the great Dutch painter. This object is a grotesque portrait of Vincent van Gogh. Theo brings his hommage to this dutch painter in a humourus way. Vincent has a big smile with pipe in his mouth and a red head painted on a big lump of stubborn oak.
This object depicts Reynard the Fox from the ancient dutch epic poem "Van den Vos Reinaerde". The fox holds a publication of this epic by the author C.G. Kaakebeen, Reinaert de Vos ffirst published in 1932. The book Theo used is the 7th print from the publisher Batavia, J.B. Wolters. There are a lot of similarities in the text of this book with the dialect spoken in the part of the Netherlands where the artist grew up. This object is the final work and master piece of a ten year long journey of Theo van de Goor in which he created etches, paintings and objects around the theme of this devilish fox. To bring his work on Reynard the Fox to a final conclusion the artist included this specific publication that he has been using during this period into this wonderful object.
The theme of the hare is recurrent in the work of the artist Theo van de Goor. The hare is the symbol of the small village of Evertsoord in national park the Peel in the Netherlands. The area where the artist grew up. Members of this small community are called "de Peelhazen" a.k.a. "the Peel hares". One of the hares has been shot and the tribe is moving out of the danger area. Even as a small boy Theo made many drawings of hares. The long ears of the hare remind Theo van de Goor of indian feathers. American Indians are another important theme in van de Goor's work.
An important theme in the work of the artist Theo van de Goor is the story about Reynard the Fox. Van de Vos Reinaerde is a dutch epic poem. This drypoint etch is a scene from this story. Reynard murders the hare and sends the head of the hare to Nobel the King, the mighty lion and so plays a last foul trick on the King. Theo van de Goor made many etches from scenes from this epic poem.
Theo van de Goor is fascinated by the story of Reynard the Fox. This drypoint etch is a portrait of one of the main characters in "Van Den Vos Reinaerde". Bruun the gluttonous bear. He just bearly survives Reynards foul tricks. The artist found an antique edition of "Van den Vos Reinaerde" in a bookstore in Amsterdam. The text from this epic sounded immediately familiar to the artist. There are a lot of similarities with the dialect spoken in the part of the Netherlands where the artist is born and grew up.
In this work the artist painted in a striking manner a hare from which life has just left. The hare was shot at a hunting session in the dutch national park "De Peel". The area where the artist was raised.
This drypoint etch from the artist Theo van de Goor shows a devil from the story called "Lucifer" by the dutch poet Joost van den Vondel. This devil is ruler of the world: he holds a globe on the top in his staff. This etching was selected for the exhibition of the 4th Kochi Triennal Exhibition of Prints in 1999 in Kochi, Japan. Theo created many etches depicting devils. A selection of these etches are published in the picture book "Het Prentenboek van de Duivel".
Soon to be published: an impressive grand format book with over 300 pictures of etchings, paintings and objects from Theo van de Goor, with personal stories from the artist. Size 42 x 29 cm, 350 pages. There will be a collector's edition of 95 copies of the book available. These books are hand-signed by the artist and are accompanied with a hand-colored large-sized etching of the artist.
A figure from Greek and Roman mythology. A god from the field and forest. Half man, half goat. He runs with the herds. The faun is a symbol of fertility and wild eroticism chasing the nimphs in the forest. Fauns are also an important theme in the work of the artist Theo van de Goor. One of his fauns was selected for an exhibition in the suntory museum in Tokyo, Japan to compete for the suntory prize of 1991.
This drypoint etching from the artist Theo van de Goor depicts a German knight called Riesencraft. The knight is one of the characters in the story "Tijl Uilenspiegel" by the Belgian author Charles De Coster. Theo van de Goor created a picture book with 12 etchings based on this story. This is the most recent book available with drypoint etchings from the artist.