Everyday life as a source of inspiration
Ordinary people take centre stage in Marius van Dokkum’s paintings. Not heroes or celebrities, but people you might encounter every day. Marius draws inspiration from everyday life and pays close attention to what people do and how they behave.
Familiar situations often form the starting point for a painting. A holiday, a family visit, sharing a meal, a hobby or simply growing older: it is in these ordinary moments that Marius finds the most beautiful stories.
Humour with a playful twist
Humour plays an important role in Marius’ work. His paintings make you smile at familiar situations, human quirks and life’s little inconveniences. At the same time, he portrays his characters with warmth. His humour is never intended to make fun of anyone.
Sometimes you spot the joke straight away, but often it only reveals itself when you take a closer look. A facial expression, an object in the background or a small detail can suddenly tell a completely different story.
Relatable themes
Several themes regularly recur in Marius’s work. Older people in particular play a special role. He shows that growing older doesn’t always have to be serious.
His characters remain curious, headstrong and active, and often find themselves in situations that many visitors recognize from their own lives or from people around them.
Look, and look again
There is more to Marius’ paintings than meets the eye. His work is full of small stories and surprising details. The scene may seem clear at first, but a second look often reveals something new.
That is precisely why his work invites you to take your time and talk about what you see. What do you notice? What is actually happening here? And what detail has someone else spotted that you completely missed?
Do you recognise yourself?
Perhaps that is the strength of Marius’ humour: his paintings are about other people, but sometimes they are also a little bit about ourselves. About our habits, our quirks and the small moments that make everyday life so familiar.
So take a good look around. And yes, laughing out loud is allowed.
In detail
Not everything in Marius’ paintings is what it seems at first glance. Objects, colours and shapes may be deliberately chosen to tell a story or convey a message. Sometimes with humour, sometimes with a serious or socially critical undertone.
Dictator
Marius painted Dictator in 2017. It is one of his socially critical works, inspired by his frustration with what he saw and heard in the news. Rather than painting an actual dictator, he chose to express his feelings symbolically.
At the centre of the painting is a large, rotten quince towering over its subjects. Marius deliberately chose not to depict a person: the unattractive, decaying fruit evokes exactly the feeling he associates with a dictator. The rest of the painting is also filled with symbolism relating to power, oppression and the consequences for ordinary people.
Take a closer look at the details and discover how Marius has woven this story into his painting.
The Rotten Quince
At the centre of the painting sits the dictator: an enormous, plump quince. Not fresh and appealing, but dark, shrivelled and rotten. That is exactly the feeling Marius wanted to evoke. The dictator towers over everything, literally sitting above his people. Darkness surrounds him. Although he may believe that he himself possesses the light, according to Marius, he actually lives in deep darkness.
The Flies
Small flies buzz around the rotten quince. They symbolise the dictator’s servants and sycophants: people who keep circling around him and benefit from his power. In this way, Marius shows that a dictator does not stand alone. The people around him also play a role in maintaining his power.
The Pink Cushion
The dictator sits comfortably on a soft pink cushion, almost as if seated on a throne. The cushion is based on a real one from Marius’ own home. But look closely, and this comfortable cushion takes on a darker meaning. Among the decorations, Marius painted small crosses. They symbolise the many victims of the dictator.
The Red Frame
The distinctive red frame is part of the story. Marius deliberately framed only the lower part of the painting. The people are literally enclosed and have nowhere to go. The dictator is positioned above them, with no frame surrounding him. He has complete freedom to do as he pleases, while his subjects have no such freedom.
The Crushed Pears
At the bottom of the painting are small, broken and crushed pears. They represent the people living under the dictator’s rule. They are oppressed and visibly suffering under his regime. Marius deliberately chose pears instead of people, allowing him to portray a serious subject without depicting it literally.
The Red Spikes
Beneath the dictator, large, bright red spikes point downwards. They symbolise his military power and the threat it poses. The spikes seem to press down on the people from above. Hard, sharp and aggressive: exactly the feeling Marius wants to evoke with this part of the painting.
