MARIJKE VAN WARMERDAM, Another day, 2011
each 110 x 80 cm
series of 50 unique screen prints, aluminum, framed
With a typically light touch, the work of Marijke van Warmerdam combines a deceptively naïve approach to the act of seeing with straightforward strategies, such as dramatic shifts of scale, doubling, reflection, rhythmic repetition or surprising juxtapositions to urge us to look with our eyes wide open.
In her film loops she depicts perfectly ordinary situations and actions, although factually always staged, with the deliberate use of compositional elements that create an open and unanticipated perspective. In her sculptures, photographic works and paintings, Van Warmerdam is not afraid of using cinematic and visual methods based on animated strategies. In the course of more than two decades she has made a refreshing contribution to the phenomenon of looking.
MARIJKE VAN WARMERDAM
Upside down, 2008
27 x 40 cm
recto and verso: photo on di-bond, wooden shelf
edition 10
published by the artist
Coll. K. van Gelder, Amsterdam
‘Capturing part of a landscape in a mirror I’m holding is very close to photography. In this case I got a swan inverted in my mirror,’ Marijke van Warmerdam says. An identical photo is pasted upside down on the reverse side. When the panel is turned around, the image initially seems virtually unchanged.
MARIJKE VAN WARMERDAM, On and on, 2006
15,5 x 21,5 x 1,4 cm
offset, 50 pages on stiff paper
edition 300
30 are signed and numbered
published by CCA Kitakyushu, Japan
After the funeral of her mother in 2006, Marijke van Warmerdam made photos of the flowers on her grave. In the following weeks she recorded the stages of withering, while the winter weather also brought some snow. In On and on the sequence of the photos is reversed, the intention being to turn back time.
MARIJKE VAN WARMERDAM, Days and holidays, 2006
3,8 cm / 2,5 cm
badges in plastic bag, stapled print on paper, 2 parts
edition 250
published by IKON Gallery, Birmingham, England
€ 85,-
When Marijke van Warmerdam was commissioned to make a badge for the IKON Gallery in Birmingham, she based her design on the spots from a cup and saucer she has used for a mobile with rotating photos called Take a break. She compares a working day to a holiday and so she made two badges representing both kinds of days. The printed light reflections on each badge suggest that the circular form is an air bubble. KvG
MARIJKE VAN WARMERDAM, In and out, 2006
66 x 100 cm
photo print on black mirror, dibond
edition 5 + 1 AP
published by World House Editions, Middlebury, Connecticut, USA
p.o.r.
“Nature decides the fate of an apple that falls from a tree. Here it falls either on the embankment or in the ditch”. Marijke van Warmerdam, 2011
Quote from catalogue ‘Close by in the distance’, published by Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam.
MARLENE DUMAS
Lucy, 2005
lithograph
edition 25
signed, dated + catalogue signed by both artists
+ MARIJKE VAN WARMERDAM
Luciaaaa!, 2005
lithograph, gold leaf
edition 25
signed, dated + catalogue signed by both artists
published by Walther Koenig Buchhandlung, Cologne, Germany
2 parts in linen covered cardboard triptych box
Photo: K. van Gelder, Amsterdam
Caravaggio’s painting Sepulture of Santa Lucia, which hangs in the Regional Museum of Palazzo Bellomo in Syracuse, prompted Marlene Dumas and Marijke van Warmerdam to make works on the legend of martyr Santa Lucia. Both ‘Lucia’ of Dumas and ‘Luciaaaa!’ of Van Warmerdam is a reproduction in high quality print of one of the works they made for their duo exhibition ‘Con vista al celestiale’ in Syracuse.
Marijke van Warmerdam thought that Lucia’s calling to God and God’s calling to Lucia could best be expressed with the aid of a Jacob’s ladder. She says: ‘A Jacob’s ladder descends from heaven and God calls: “Luciaaaa!” I placed her name in gold letters upside-down on the print, actually as seen through the eyes of God.’
Photo: K. van Gelder, Amsterdam
History of prices:
Phillips, London, UK € 1.145,- 23 September 2025 (hammer price)
Sotheby’s, Amsterdam 23 May 2007 € 5.040,- / $ 6,795.- (incl. premium)
Phillips, New York, USA 1 December 2007 US$ 3,750.-
MARIJKE VAN WARMERDAM, ’92-’96, 1996
110 x 80 cm
offset on paper, aluminum
signed, dated
edition 50
published by Wiener Secession, Vienna, Austria / Marijke van Warmerdam
p.o.r.
“After the artist had made the final selection of works for her exhibition in the Wiener Secession, she noticed that her choice contained a work from every year between 1992 and 1995. Based on this fact she made a poster, but because the poster itself was also a work, the year 1996 was added as a new fact. The image of white dates on a black background created the suggestion of five consecutive frames of a film.” From text by Kees van Gelder in catalogue ‘Close by in the distance’ (2011), p. 74.
MARIJKE VAN WARMERDAM, Klok, 1995
height ca 40 cm, different heights
bronze, ceiling clamp, electric device
series of 12 unique doorbells, cast in different pitches
Collection Kees van Gelder
‘Marijke van Warmerdam could be the very founder of Reaction Art, i.e. context triggers her imagination. The idea of making a school bell in the form of a carillon with two melodies struck Van Warmerdam as a good alternative to the piercing sound of the bell that normally rings out across the schoolyard. She invited composer Jeff Hamburg to make one melody for the start of lessons and another for when school ends. From there in the context of her first commercial gallery show in Amsterdam in 1995 she decided to turn the gallery’s doorbell into a doorbell bell creating a very deep sound in the building when visitors rang it.’ september 2012 KvG
MARIJKE VAN WARMERDAM, ‘Vuilnisbak’, 1995
65 x Ø 35 cm
zinc dustbin, gold leaf, varnish
signed, dated, numbered
edition 20
p.o.r.
‘We use a dustbin every day and half our lives end up in it.’ Based on this idea, the artist felt it was time to place dustbins on a pedestal by providing them with a layer of gold leaf.
