STOLEN PAINTINGS : The Lamplighters

30 October – 27 November 2026

HAE Winkel - Sint Jacobstraat 5 – Maastricht

Who gets to be seen? Who holds the light?

In the 17th century, painters illuminated and preserved Dutch civic guard members to celebrate civic identity, social standing and collective power.

Now, Søren Vandegaard transforms these compositions through his own contemporary visual language.

The monumental paintings depicted citizens who paid for a prominent place on the canvas, and thus in history. Civic guard members were centered and illuminated by painters and protected by museums. They continue to receive attention, leaving countless others outside of history’s frame.

In The Lamplighters, Vandegaard revisits these paintings to give them another light. Through altered colors, remixed figures and unexpected interventions, the artist invites viewers to question how societal attention is distributed and memorialized, how reputations are made, and who decides what deserves to be seen and remembered for future generations.

The lamplighter is someone who brings light to a place and directs our attention towards someone or something that might otherwise remain invisible.

Museums, media, institutions, markets and artists all compete to determine what we see and remember. Light is not simply illumination in a fixed moment. It is publicity, recognition, cultural authority, remembrance, visibility and cultural legacy over time.

The Lamplighters re-introduces the question of who controls the light.