I knew right away what was I going to paint when I received the invitation for the exhibition: a triptych with three different broadness. The most narrow would be for Rossinant, Don Quixote’s horse. The widest would be for Sancho Panza, his faithful follower. The third canvas would be Don Quixote himself. I still needed the three models. Sancho was very easy: a little wide, easy going but wild, that person would be a friend of us: Chiem. I found Rossinant at a small hacienda in Mexico: the slow Gavilan.
The most difficult was Don Quixote, there was nobody I could think of who would fit the model I had in mind. I find my Don Quixote at a hotel in Puerto Vallarta where he was taking the sun . There he was and I didn’t dare to ask him. Until he was about to go I said: -Señor, señor!- he didn’t turn. – Do you speak English?- ‘I hope so I was born in New York and lived there until some years ago’ was his answer. After I asked him he would pose for me, he said why not, I am am always asked to be photographed! That was the way the third part of my thyptich was born: Phil as my perfect Don Quixote.
The Hague, September 2005
The most difficult was Don Quixote, there was nobody I could think of who would fit the model I had in mind. I find my Don Quixote at a hotel in Puerto Vallarta where he was taking the sun . There he was and I didn’t dare to ask him. Until he was about to go I said: -Señor, señor!- he didn’t turn. – Do you speak English?- ‘I hope so I was born in New York and lived there until some years ago’ was his answer. After I asked him he would pose for me, he said why not, I am am always asked to be photographed! That was the way the third part of my thyptich was born: Phil as my perfect Don Quixote.
The Hague, September 2005
