Untitled (Woman and Rooster with Mitre on a Fantastic Creature) - Willem Westbroek

A surreal drawing by Dutch artist Willem Westbroek featuring a hybrid creature carrying a woman and a rooster on roller skates.

This drawing by Willem Westbroek presents a surreal, dreamlike narrative composed with a direct, linear approach. The central figure is a large, hybrid creature possessing a human head with a beard and a mitre, suggesting a fusion of ecclesiastical authority and mythical beast. Perched upon the back of this creature are two distinct figures: a woman and a rooster, the latter also wearing a mitre and holding a cross. The entire assembly moves on roller skates, adding an element of absurdity to the composition.

Westbroek, a Dutch artist associated with the Outsider Art tradition, often utilised such idiosyncratic imagery to explore themes that defy conventional logic. His work frequently features these hybrid beings, blending religious iconography with whimsical, personal symbolism. The line quality is thin and precise, typical of a preparatory sketch or a spontaneous creative exercise. The composition remains flat, prioritising the symbolic arrangement of the figures over spatial depth or anatomical accuracy. A circular form, perhaps representing a clock or a celestial body, occupies the upper right corner, providing a sense of scale and temporal context to the scene.

The lack of shading or complex texture keeps the focus entirely on the silhouette and the bizarre interaction between the characters. By combining the solemnity of the mitre and the cross with the playfulness of roller skates and fantastic animals, Westbroek creates a visual language that is both unsettling and humorous. This piece offers a glimpse into the artist's internal world, where traditional symbols are repurposed to construct a private mythology. It is a clear example of the artist's ability to translate complex, subconscious thoughts into simple, graphic forms on paper.