About the idiotic success of this photo

Monday 18 March 2019, 14:41 by Elvira Smit | 17,023 views | 5 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

It gives me the creeps: black-and-white photos with one element in colour. Yet 427,000 people have this Amsterdam scene hanging on their wall. Why is this mediocre photo so immensely popular?

A curious buyer looked into it. He not only found the answer to his question, but also came across a tragic life story.

First of all, this is the photo in question:

Yellow taxis and red bicycles: the Vilshult series

During my student days, I sometimes ate at a friend's house. From the dining table, I looked at a black-and-white photo of Times Square hanging on his wall. Only the taxis were in colour:

NY Vilshult

What was striking was that from his window, you could look straight into the neighbour's home. Where exactly the same photo was hanging on the wall. It created a strange bond between two strangers. Realising this meant that I suddenly started seeing that photo everywhere.

That taxi photo and the image of Amsterdam are part of IKEA's Vilshult series. The images in the series are by different photographers, but they are all black-and-white with one coloured element. IKEA does the editing itself, incidentally.

A full bin

Tom Roes, one of the buyers of the Amsterdam photo, also suddenly started seeing "his" photo everywhere after buying it. He became curious about the story behind the photo, so he investigated why this particular, very mediocre photo hangs on so many walls around the world.

Because who wants a cityscape with a full bin hanging on their wall?

Or a bicycle with an old plastic bag being used as a rain cover for the saddle?

The photo is in no way stylised, something that is very characteristic of the other photos in the IKEA “gallery”.

Short documentary

Tom Roes made a short documentary about his search. In just 14 minutes, he tells a story full of bizarre twists. I am not going to reveal them here, because that would be a shame. Just watch it yourself:

Part of a museum collection

Following this short documentary, the Amsterdam Museum also bought a copy for its collection (at 54.95 euros). With the following explanation:

This framed image of a photograph of a bicycle on an Amsterdam canal, which has been sold almost half a million times worldwide, shows the appeal of the city of Amsterdam.

It gives an impression of what people all over the world who have this image hanging on their wall associate with the city of Amsterdam.

Imara Limon, curator at the Amsterdam Museum via Historiek.nl

Incidentally, IKEA itself can also be a source of inspiration for photographers, as shown by the photo series by Margeaux Walter.

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About the author

Ik heb een eigen fotografieblog, Kronkeling. Daar schrijf ik om de week twee artikelen. Over hoe je je blik kunt scherpen, je creativiteit kunt aanwakkeren, en over fotografen die mij inspireren. Geen technische zaken, wél over hoe je leert kijken. En dat blijkt nog een hele klus. Een mooi startpunt zijn de Kronkeltips, die vind je hier.

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5 comments

Noor wrote on Tuesday 19 March 2019 at 12:47 | reply
What I understood from a previously broadcast documentary about this photo was: it turned out to be the cheapest one to buy, from a larger selection of such photos.
That this worked out well was later an additional bonus for IKEA.
Every dime more for a photo means millions for IKEA, so that was the starting point.

The story behind it is of course another story.
Translated from Dutch.

theo wrote on Tuesday 19 March 2019 at 14:11 | reply
Wonderful story!

greetings Theo
Translated from Dutch.

Alette Holman wrote on Tuesday 19 March 2019 at 21:48 | reply
Thanks for sharing. I've wondered about it myself sometimes, but never looked into it. Still quite a remarkable story!
Translated from Dutch.

Chris Broeckhoven wrote on Wednesday 20 March 2019 at 10:43 | reply
That was a nice story, thanks for sharing it
Chris
Translated from Dutch.

Mabel Amber wrote on Wednesday 20 March 2019 at 14:03 | reply
Just goes to show, a little coin can roll in strange ways.

But anyway, this is a photo of Amsterdam as it really IS - a little melancholy on a grey day, overflowing rubbish bins, yes, we know those, a bicycle, we know that too, and then one of those plastic bags over a saddle... it can't be missed.
Beautiful photo. The general public has better taste than I thought.

All in all, no high-kitsch.

Still a shame about that colour account, a typical trend that's dying out.
Translated from Dutch.

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