Illusion 1, Market Hall, Rotterdam

This painting was made after an early evening stroll from station Blaak to the library passing the Market Hall in Rotterdam. In the glass facade of the Market Hall the 'Blaaktoren' (nickname 'Het Potlood' or Pencil Tower) on the opposite site was visible.The evening sun reflected the building called 'The Pencil' in the glass of the Market Hall and this reflection with the background of the ceiling of the Market Hall formed the inspiration for the painting called 'Illusion 1'. 

The Blaaktoren was designed by Dutch architect Piet Blom, very well known for the design of the Cube Houses next to the tower. The Pencil Tower is a hexagon-shaped tower just like a pencil. 

The Market Hall is a residential and office building with a market hall underneath, located in the city center of Rotterdam. The building was opened on October 1, 2014, by Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. Besides the large market hall, the complex houses 228 apartments, 4600 m2 retail space, 1600 m2 horeca and an underground 4-storey parking garage with a capacity of 1000+ cars.
The Market Hall was designed by architectural firm MVRDV. The grey nature stone building has an archwise structure like a horseshoe. The building has a glass facade on both sides, these are made up of smaller glass windows. The smaller windows are mostly squared and around 1485 millimeters wide. All of these are hung around a structure of steel cables, 34 metres high and 42 metres wide, which makes it the largest glass-window cable structure in Europe. Each facade has 26 vertical and 22 horizontal cables.
The inside of the building is adorned with an 11.000 m2 artwork by Arno Coenen, named Hoorn des Overvloeds (Horn of Plenty). The artwork shows strongly enlarged fruits, vegetables, seeds, fish, flowers and insects. Right after the opening in 2014, the artwork got a lot of attention from around the world. Some called it The largest artwork in the world or The Sistine Chapel of Rotterdam.