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Bert Hermans
'Cold Feet' (2021)
Oil on canvas
80 x 60 cm

On September 12, 2020, Bert took a tour of the former Zuiderziekenhuis in Rotterdam as part of the Open Monument Days. A beautiful building with many scenic spots.
The Zuiderziekenhuis, also known as the Zuider, was a hospital in South Rotterdam. In 2000 it merged with the Sint Clara Hospital to form Maasstad Hospital. The hospital was closed in March 2011 after the completion of the new building of the Maasstad Hospital. It is now being completely renovated.
At the beginning of 2008, the project developer "De Groene Groep" had bought the site of the "Zuider". Plans were made to give it a new function, leaving only the main building and the side wings of the hospital. De Groene Groep wanted to deliver the site between 2016 and 2018, but ultimately aimed for demolition. However, the action group "Vreewijk in Actie" wanted to prevent this. As a result, monumental buildings were saved at the last minute. The Main or Central Building is now being redesignated into residences and the Front Building and the pavilions to the Zuiderhof, where residential and work functions are combined. In 2017 it was announced that the Zuider Gymnasium will be located in the former Zuiderziekenhuis.
The title of the painting "Cold Feet" refers to the cold feet that protrude from the sheet on the operating table. The English text "getting cold feet" means in Dutch: starting to have doubts. One could argue that the fear of vaccination could end with literally cold feet, as with the figure under the sheet on the table in the center of the painting. Bert saw this image during an opera performance that was held in May 2019 in the old building of the Dijkzigt hospital in Rotterdam - just before demolition - to make way for the new building of the Erasmus MC. For the Opera Days Rotterdam, visitors could wander through the corridors one more time, just before the real demolition work with the removal of asbestos started. The route led through the corridors and along the operating rooms, of which the painting also shows the equipment on the ceiling. The space itself is taken from the tour of the Zuiderziekenhuis. The two people at the back left of the room refer to the corona vaccination that is current at the time of painting (March 2021).