Remarkable background story behind the Jeroen Krabbé stamp

Did you also watch the TV program 'I am not old, Jeroen Krabbé 80 years old' on Wednesday evening by painter, illustrator, actor, author & film director Jeroen Krabbé, who was born on December 5, 1944? Over the past few weeks, a great deal of attention has been paid to this versatile artist in the press, exhibitions, and on television, not only because of his 80th birthday, but also because of his poignant documentaries (consisting of multiple episodes) about Picasso, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Chagall, Kahlo, and currently about Millet. He vividly visits the places where the artists have lived and worked with the aim of approaching the man, the artist, in good times and bad. Did you also stop to consider during one of the many TV broadcasts that Jeroen Krabbé, as a landscape painter, also designed a stamp with a remarkable backstory in 2000?

Mirror image: candid and clear explanation

The operator of the news service of the Association for Children's Stamps and Maximaphily discovered, while combining a stamp and a picture postcard for the production of a series of maximum cards, that the stamp displays a mirror image of the painting 'Dutch Landscape' by Jeroen Krabbé. Following this discovery, PTT Post was informed, to which the postal company responded candidly. “PTT Post received a number of slides from Krabbé. A selection was made in collaboration with the designer Piet Gerards. Subsequently, a proof print was produced, to which Krabbé granted his approval. Only after this did the painter discover that the painting had been reproduced in reverse. Following this, Krabbé created a new design based on the correct position of the painting. The new digital document was sent to the printer with a request to put this design into production. However, for unknown reasons, the old version was put to the press, and nothing was detected during the press inspection. It was only when your letter arrived (January 1, 2001) that this mistake became apparent to me. Naturally, I will inform Mr. Krabbé of this unfortunate error.”

Painting image

Graphic designer Piet Gerards from Heerlen, at the explicit request of the PTT, placed the central section of the vertical painting as an image on the horizontal stamp. The reason? The horizontal series character of both priority stamps (Night Watch detail, NVPH 1904) is maintained with a horizontal detail. Following this, Gerards says: “Thanks to the high horizon of this landscape, I was able to give the 'stamp painting' a South Limburg touch after all.”

• On the right in the foreground stands a farmhouse with a thatched roof.
• The bottom of it represents either the ends of the thatch or roof tiles.
• Next to the farm, two cows, among other things, are grazing in a meadow.
• Above that is a yellow cornfield, with green clouds above that.
• The fallen tree in front of the cornfield perhaps refers to the contrast between 'life and death in nature' through grazing cows and the felled tree.
• This painting was created near Dalfsen (east of Zwolle), where Krabbé owns a summer or country retreat in the Sterrenbos, in addition to his home in Amsterdam. This green, wooded gem on the Overijsselsche Vecht has a wonderfully calming and inspiring influence on Krabbé.

Stamp too small!

The self-adhesive painting stamp with a priority sticker featuring a die-cut indication provides space at the bottom of the painting. The separate die-cut stamp, on the other hand, has nothing at the bottom! The face value of 110 cents is positioned too tightly on the edge of the stamp.

Stamp & stamp sheet match

There is a resemblance between the rejected preliminary design of the stamp and the stamp sheet with five self-adhesive priority stamps (the priority sticker is still inseparably attached to the stamp). The white section on the left is sparsely provided with text.

Krabbé's painting style

In his paintings, Jeroen Krabbé offers a very personal perspective on and interpretation of the scenic beauty he sees and experiences emotionally during his many domestic and international travels. Emotion strongly dominates the eye. In other words, recognizability is not always dominant. Krabbé sometimes creates a series of paintings on the same subject: “I want to discover how much I dare to leave out, so that the essential and most characteristic elements of the landscape still end up on the canvas. In doing so, I also want to convey a lot with colors. They are very important to me for expressing emotions.” This personal art of expression (expressionism) manifests itself through:

1. Formal simplification, meaning no trivial details, provides clarity.
2. Deviating use of color not corresponding to reality.
3. Smoothly painted work with bright use of color in almost geometric planes.
4. Warm use of colors such as green, yellow, and orange