In this painting of the Blijdorp metro station in Rotterdam, Bert has depicted two men passing a beggar. Typical for this time is that they are both apparently only interested in their mobile phone and have no eye for the Other; the person on the floor of the subway station.
Bert is often inspired in his paintings by the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995). According to Levinas, the fellow man is not just another person, but appears as a strange other.
Blijdorp metro station, pictured here, opened on August 16, 2010. It is a metro station on metro line E of RandstadRail and Rotterdam metro. The station is located in the Rotterdam Blijdorp district of the same name, on the Statenweg. It is located at a depth of 18 meters below street level of the Statenweg, making it the deepest metro station in Rotterdam. The reflection in the ceiling in the painting emphasizes this depth even more.
Bert Hermans was born in 1947 in The Netherlands. His work consists mainly of oil paintings, with his major theme being industrial and cultural heritage. Hermans has followed several courses in acrylic, water media and oil painting, starting in 1985 at the Dutch Art School SKVR in Rotterdam in The Netherlands. The last decade his work mainly is concentrated on oil paintings.
Hermans has had exhibitions in eight countries in Europe, in the USA, China and Japan. He won several art prices. His works have been published in many art books and his artwork has been published and sold worldwide.