May 2022 – October 2023

The Alchemy of Dreams

The series is inspired by the dreams in life, daring to live your legend, Alchemy, ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho, making air castles come true, about persistence, grit, faith, the soul of the world, the birth of dreams, Dutch skies and dunes.

The Dutch skies are used as a metaphor for the dreams. Dreams we would like to achieve in life exist is our mind, airy and light with no weight, like a cloud, but when we envision them and live them they feel and look real, like the clouds seem to have this vast volume. But only if they succeed on earth, when they are born on earth, they become reality in our lives. 

Van de Graaf believes all the dreams in the lives of people, either small or big of nature, will contribute in creating a better and more inspiring world. 

In this series Van de Graaf started with writing his poems before the process of creating his study sketches. They form a direct secondary source of inspiration for the works

This series is staged in the dunes in and near Scheveningen (The Hague, the Netherlands), very close to where his studio is situated. 

“For those air castles becoming true, giving birth through the soul on earth, letting the heart swim in peaceful waters.”

The poems are published on the pages of the works.