{"product_id":"waterloo-puppets-oil-on-canvas-margaretha-verheus-1969","title":"Waterloo Puppets — Oil on Canvas, by Margaretha Verheus, 1969","description":"\u003ch3 dir=\"ltr\"\u003eThe Dolls Are Watching. (Politely. For Now)\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eAmsterdam, 1969. \u003cstrong\u003eThe Waterlooplein flea market\u003c\/strong\u003e in its golden, gloriously chaotic prime — the city's great treasure-hunting ground, where somebody's beloved doll collection ends up hung on a blue chair, blinking at passers-by, waiting to be taken home. \u003cstrong\u003eMargaretha Verheus \u003c\/strong\u003epainted exactly that corner, and we are quietly, \u003cem\u003ehappily haunted by it.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eAn elephant mid-tumble in orange. A teddy with a thousand-yard stare. Baby dolls, puppets, a red-waistcoated fellow presiding over the lot with the calm of something that has seen every buyer come and go — and an impeccably dressed woman in a scarlet skirt.\u003cem\u003e Is she passing through, or is she one of them?\u003c\/em\u003e Painted stiff, staring straight ahead, standing a little too still... who's to say where the collection ends and the crowd begins? \u003cem\u003eLook up\u003c\/em\u003e, and a stray pair of little pink legs dangles in from the top edge, feet swinging, the rest of the puppet cheekily cropped away by the frame — as if it climbed out of the picture while no one was looking. The market, she's telling us, goes on well beyond the canvas. \u003cem\u003eSo does the watching!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eThere's something wonderfully\u003cstrong\u003e art brut\u003c\/strong\u003e about it — flattened, folkloric, \u003cem\u003efaintly uncanny\u003c\/em\u003e in the way only a room full of dolls can be. That flicker at the edge of your eye. The sense that if you turned the lights off, they'd rearrange themselves. Which is precisely the charm. This is \u003cstrong\u003enot a pretty picture\u003c\/strong\u003e that asks nothing of you; it's a character piece with a pulse —\u003cem\u003e and possibly a heartbeat or two it isn't admitting to.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOil on canvas, signed \u003cem\u003eM. Verheus\u003c\/em\u003e and inscribed on the reverse \u003cem\u003eWaterlooplein 1969\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eBy a genuine, museum-collected Dutch painter — her work hangs in the Rijksmuseum — and by, we're delighted to say, a woman. In quite exceptional vintage condition: the \u003cstrong\u003ecolours as fresh and unfaded\u003c\/strong\u003e as if the canvas had never met a ray of daylight, or had only just been carried out of the atelier. Presented in its original gilded frame, ready to \u003cem\u003eunsettle and delight your wall in equal measure.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eEccentric, colourful, and entirely at home among the well-loved oddities. \u003cem\u003eDo come closer. They'd like that!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWaterloo Puppets — Margaretha Verheus (1905–1990) — Oil on Canvas, signed, Waterlooplein 1969 — original gilded frame.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cem\u003ePS. We tried photographing it somewhere normal. The dolls insisted otherwise.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wildschut Antiques","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57560985010549,"sku":"Paint-Waterloo-Puppets","price":1680.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0843\/7930\/4236\/files\/Wildschut_Antiques_Waterloo_Puppets_Verheus_1969-Web-DEF.jpg?v=1788970964","url":"https:\/\/wildschut-antiques.com\/products\/waterloo-puppets-oil-on-canvas-margaretha-verheus-1969","provider":"Wildschut Antiques","version":"1.0","type":"link"}