The depiction of a couple is a favourite theme of Verkade’s – he saw dance as the perfect incarnation of balance and strength. The work marks the first in his series “A Birth in Bronze”, which the artist created in the Principality, where he moved following his marriage to Ludmila von Falz-Fein. The...
The depiction of a couple is a favourite theme of Verkade’s – he saw dance as the perfect incarnation of balance and strength. The work marks the first in his series “A Birth in Bronze”, which the artist created in the Principality, where he moved following his marriage to Ludmila von Falz-Fein. The numerous depictions of couples – men and women, mothers and babies – reflect this happy period where family bliss imbued every aspect of his art. His style became both more forceful and more graceful.
Kees Verkade, a Dutch national, was born on 12 October 1941 in Haarlem (Netherlands). After secondary school, he enrolled at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, where he graduated with first prize. A resident of the Principality from 1979 onwards, he participated in many joint and solo exhibitions. He was commissioned to create numerous sculptures to decorate official buildings in his native country, and also in Europe, the United States and, of course, the Principality of Monaco, which acquired several of his works. Among the Verkade sculptures to be found in Monaco are: Invitation in the Saint-Martin Gardens; Sport in front of the Louis II Stadium; a bust of Prince Louis de Polignac (the cousin of H.S.H. the Sovereign Prince) in Square Beaumarchais; and First Step in front of Princess Grace Hospital. In 1999, a retrospective devoted to the artist was held in Monaco to celebrate his forty years as an artist. That same year, Prince Rainier III awarded him the insignia of the Order of Cultural Merit and Officer of the Order of the Grimaldi. A complete retrospective of his work, titled Circle of Love, was held in 2012.
