Willem den Ouden has lived and worked in the village Varik on the Waal since 1967. In his drawings, prints, watercolours and paintings, he has captured this river and it's surrounding landscapes for about fifty years: the floodplains, dikes and clouds, in all wind and weather conditions, and the reflection of the sun in the water and the air. The surveys he makes in the summer, are displayed – in large scale – in oil paint on canvas. You can see one of his most impressive paintings here. With a bit of imagination, you will find yourself on the dike on a sunny day. Painting landscapes is creating space, according to Willem den Ouden. For many years, he has depicted the horizon in his landscapes increasingly lower. As a result, more room for the clouds is provided. One day, Willem den Ouden created space in a different way. Tired of the static contours of the dike, he took a revolutionary step. He sawed the bottom five centimetres off his outside painted studies and then glued this part to the top of the panel. The dike embankment disappeared from his paintings and there was more room for light, the sun and the reflection of light in the river.