Wim Delvoye

Mudam holds several significant works by Wim Delvoye (b. 1965, Wervik), most notably Chapelle a metallic, gothic-inspired chapel with stained glass windows created for the museum.

The series of sculptures Dutch Gas-Cans and is typical of the work he made at the end of the 80s, transforming everyday objects, connected to manual and domestic work, with ornamental motifs borrowed from the decorative arts. Deliberately anachronistic, the iconography in this work recalls the golden age of Dutch decorative arts, echoing Delvoye’s earliest artistic ambition for his work to transform ‘the provincial’ into ‘something international’. The artist quotes familiar Delftware designs – renowned for their refined blue pattern and the quality of their glazing – and transfers them to empty gas canisters. Details in the design such as the windmill – that are synonymous with an idyllic image of the Dutch landscape – evoke an idea of regionalism which is a recurrent theme in Delvoye’s early work.