Maria Roosen, Three Graces (Louise, Jeanne & Simone) (2023/2024)

The Three Graces have been depicted on many occasions over the centuries, with countless paintings and sculptures dedicated to them. They have their origins in classical mythology, where they are considered the personifications of beauty, fertility, creativity and charm. They are generally depicted hand in hand or in a close embrace. This is also the case with the Three Graces of Maria Roosen (b. 1957, lives and works in Arnhem), who are joined at the base.

There has been much debate about the names of the three sisters. They are usually known as Aglaea, the goddess of beauty and radiance; Euphrosyne, the goddess of joy; and Thalia, the goddess of abundance and festivity. Roosen finds the name changes fascinating: ‘Every time a different meaning is assigned to naked women.’ She renamed her own Graces ‘Louise, Jeanne and Simone’, each of them a woman’s name based on a man’s name.

Themes such as physicality, fertility, growth, flourishing, love and death are central to Roosen’s work. She likes to work with glass but also uses wood, textiles and other materials. Recurring visual elements are bunches of fruit, building blocks, necklaces, ladders and body parts; breasts, buttocks and penises often feature. One glance at the Three Graces – and the link with a penis is easily made, although the upright protuberances are also reminiscent of mushrooms.

Many of Roosen’s works are connected to her own emotions. She also calls them ‘tools for feelings’, equipment to allow the expression of emotions. These feelings are familiar to everyone, prompted by key experiences such as love, happiness, grief and loss.

Roosen has taken part in Lustwarande on three previous occasions, but this is the first time she has presented a wooden sculpture. Wood reflects her interest in the power of growth and flourishing; the tree from which this work is carved took hundreds of years to become this thick. Wood is a living material that reacts to moisture and drought. It can crack, expand and contract. For Roosen, working with this living wood is a comforting process.

Roosen’s work for STATIONS was both cheerful and surprising. A colourful collection of foaming beer glasses was arranged on two branches of two different trees that were within sight of each other. They were made entirely of blown glass – transparent foot and stem, golden yellow body and white head – and were patiently waiting on the branches for someone to pick them up and drink a toast to life.

This work was purchased by Museum Voorlinden.