Room of Love

This is a tactile object. You may touch it.

Hanging on the wall on the right is the painting ‘Birth of Lies’. It was made in 1924 by Jan Sluijters with oil paint on canvas. The painting records the birth of his second daughter Elisa, known to the family as Lies. The painting shows his wife Greet lying in a bed with the baby next to her. It also shows two other children. 

This tactile drawing is a simplified representation of the painting. Follow the lines with your hands and discover what can be seen with the help of this audio.

You can recognise the sheet that covers Greet by the dotted structure at the bottom of the tactile drawing. Greet’s head is on a pillow that is marked with close parallel lines. The wall in the background has parallel lines with less space between them. These structures are not visible in the painting itself.

Greet is a white woman. She’s lying in a bed. Part of the sheet that covers her is visible at the bottom of the painting. Her pale head lies on a large white pillow to the right.

Her bare shoulders and right breast are exposed above the white sheet. The nipple is just visible. Greet has dark brown hair and looks at the viewer with a tired look.

The newborn baby Liesje is lying on the left of the bed with her rosy face against her mother’s bare breast. She is wrapped in white fabric. She has one clenched fist pressed against her chest. Her other hand is held by her brother, Rob.

Little Rob is standing on the left of the painting next to the bed. He has one arm carefully wrapped around the baby. He holds his sister’s tiny hand in his. He’s wearing a blue sweater with a neat, white collar. He has blond hair and rosy cheeks. He looks lovingly at the viewer. 

Standing to the right of him, almost at the centre of the painting, is an older boy. He is Jan junior. He is wearing a red sweater with a collar. He has light-brown hair and, like his brother, he has rosy cheeks. His eyes are downcast and seem to be focused on his new sister. The background in various shades of mauve is plain, so that all the attention is focused on the tender moment that Jan Sluijters has painted.

This is a core object. You can listen to information here. Unfortunately, you’re not allowed to touch this object.

You are now standing before a painting by Jan Sluijters entitled ‘Portrait of Tonia’. It’s 115 centimetres high and 130 centimetres wide, so it’s not quite square. Sluijters painted it in 1919 with oil paint on canvas. Tonia was one of his favourite models. He loved her enchanting beauty. 

On the left of the painting, Tonia is sitting on a chair in front of a dark brown wooden cabinet. On the right is a vase filled with large red flowers. Behind her is a window with long beige curtains. Because the light comes from behind, Tonia's face is cast in shadow. She looks ahead towards the viewer with a neutral look, perhaps lost in thought.

Tonia has dark skin and short black curly hair. She has a cloth hairband and small gold earrings. She wears a tight dress, or blouse, with long sleeves and green dot-like decorations on the arms and trunk, and stripes with various motifs around her waist. Her nipples and navel are visible through the fabric, so the garment might be transparent.

Tonia is sitting at a table, the edge of which is just visible on the bottom left. On the table is a white plate with a piece of orange-coloured cake. She holds a greyish cup with one hand under it and the other resting loosely on it.