This piece of art is located in the entrance of the residential building called "De Hulk" in the centre of Almere Haven, which was renovated and rebuilt in 2013. The entrance room was added to the building. Before that, there was a real tree standing right here. And this tree had a special history:
Actually, it was the eighteen thousands tree planted in the Dutch province of Flevoland by no one other than Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, third daughter of the former Dutch queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard.
The citizens of Almere knew this and got angry when this tree was taken away, so I had the idea to give the Princess tree back to Almere by manifesting it in my art work.
Originally, it was a European Platanus tree but I chose the Magnolia tree because it is a symbol of spring (love for nature), idealism and strong principles. A Magnolia often stands close to Buddhist monasteries. Its flowers symbolize purity and nobleness.
The roots of the tree reach into the dark water of the sea, which refers to the fact that the sea used to be here before the Dutch province of Flevoland came into existence, after the Afsluitdijk was completed in 1932 which closed off the sea completely.
This work of art was commissioned by the residential building company Alliantie Flevoland. It was completed in March 2015.
