Nostalgia by Jeroen Quirijns

This painting dates from 2008; what are we looking at?
A figure (a boy) on a stage in a wooden car, set against a backdrop of the polder; he has a folded newspaper on his head – the NRC.
The red curtains allude to classical painting, the Golden Age, and a staged performance.
The image in the background is a reference to J. H. Weissenbruch (1824–1903), * "Landschap bij Noorden" * from 1884.
Weissenbruch, a member of the Hague School, witnessed first-hand as a landscape painter just how quickly industry was taking hold of the environment in the Netherlands. Is this what the painting is about? What remains in this densely populated landscape, full of residential estates, industrial estates and vast swathes of tarmac? Do we have sufficient scope for personal development, creativity, sport and nature? The figure on the stage is showing off the car he built himself and is adorned with a "feesthoedje"; see this as autobiographical – as a child, I practically lived in the woods, in tree houses and underground huts, building rafts for the Dommel or Brugven, riding mopeds, flying kites, fishing in the summer, camping – you name it, I/we did it; we learnt to tell the time by the position of the sun.
With the knowledge I have now, I look at a different generation – one that stares at screens and plays online games and the like – but they’ll find their way too, in their own way.
The title probably says a lot too: was everything better in the old days? No, but it was different. I’m happy with my childhood and the things I was able to experience, and I also embrace the possibilities available today. So yes, I’m probably just looking at myself after all ; )