19. Herman van Bergen

Herman van Bergen (1953) is a multidisciplinary visual artist. He became known for his paintings and drawings and especially with his works of art made of thorn branches (sumpiña art). From 2012 to the present, Herman van Bergen has been working on his magnum opus Cathedral of Thorns, in the garden of Landhuis Bloemhof. The cathedral, like this work, is an indictment of the destruction of nature by man. The growth of thorn bushes, the Acacia Tortuosa, is after all the result of desertification of the landscape. The cathedral has the subtitle Ode to the free spirits, and is also an ode to the original inhabitants, the Caquetios. The asphalt also used in Harvest symbolizes the speed of peoples, the lead the weight of our mutual relationships, the paraffin the mantle of love and the red earth the blood of our ancestors. In 2016 Herman van Bergen received the Cola Debrot Prize for his oeuvre. In 2020, the work of art by the Cathedral of Thorns won two international CODA awards: in the Landscape category and the People’s Choice Award.