On a street in the Hanseatic city of Zwolle behind the Museum de Fundatie, we can’t believe our eyes. A mural on an inconspicuous garage wall blurs the appearance of the contemporary world.
“I traveled through time to be with you my dear” is written on a cell phone. However, the young woman has just put down her quill pen next to an inkwell to continue the love letter she started in the 400-year-old Dutch school setting on a smartphone. The message ends with a heart emoji but, on closer inspection, the sender on the app is someone else.
Mobile phone owner Donovan Spaanstra has signed the mural he created and spray-painted over the year 1655 with 2022. In the Netherlands, the artist, who was born in 1971, is also known as Rembrandt with a spray can because he draws inspiration from the Old Masters and translates classical art using the modern medium of the spray can.
He has noted the attribution to the model on the mural: “Time Travel version of ‘the Letter’ by Gerard ter Borch the Younger”. Incidentally, the letter writer depicted is Gesina, the sister of the genre painter Gerard ter Borch.
Events in Zwolle to mark the anniversary in 2025
The whole ter Borch family has been closely connected to Zwolle for 400 years and the Museum de Fundatie will be showing a special exhibition about the artist family from September 6, 2025. Link to the exhibition: At home with ter Borch – family of artists in Zwolle.
A year full of inspiring wall art
This mural and 12 other murals found in 10 countries can be found in Georg Berg’s picture calendar, which is available in various sizes from bookshops.
