AN UNEXPECTED LITERARY STAGE

Moving between connective tissues of words and stone

You are about to meet the person who accompanies you around the world in search of beauty. He has arranged to meet you in Leiden, Holland, and read what he wrote to you on WhatsApp: “An author’s trip is more than just tourism: it is an emotional and intellectual exploration of the places that have shaped creative minds. It is about immersing yourself in the landscapes, atmospheres and impulses that have inspired paintings, novels, photographs, fashion styles and digital art. This kind of trip seeks a deeper connection between the artist, the surrounding environment and his vision. Meeting Benches invites you to discover the beauty where painters have captured landscapes, writers have set their stories, photographers have frozen emotions and designers have shaped collections. These places enclose the essence of creativity, revealing the light, the atmosphere and the cultural influences behind each masterpiece.” You already know that they are guided by Dastilige Nevante, the left-handed cigar smoker who breathes art in all its forms. You are certain that his journeys transcend reality, where even his poems become digital paintings on the walls of imagination.

“IN THE DEEP: I swam in the depths of her amber eyes, singing the full strength of my most intimate life.”

Rotterdam The Hague Airport is directly connected to Leiden Central Station; in about 20 minutes, you will meet your guide, giving you time to finish reading the left-handed man’s message: “Walking through the streets of a book, admiring a landscape painted from life, visiting an artist’s studio—these experiences bring us closer to creative sensitivity. Each Author’s Journey is unique, reflecting personal passions and interests in discovering authors and their works. Finding places that have nourished others’ creativity stimulates our imagination and enriches artistic perception. Contemplating the beauty that inspired masterpieces becomes a driving force for our own creative expression. These journeys reveal not only finished works but also the places that made them possible, contributing to the preservation and appreciation of cultural heritage. The traces left by artists of the past continue to interact with contemporary creativity, including digital art, broadening perspectives on artistic evolution.” Now, you understand a lot about the new Author’s Journey that awaits you: “I will experience a connection with human creativity—an experience that nourishes the mind and spirit, leaving indelible traces on how I perceive beauty and the world around me.”

“IN THE WIND: Such as floating shuttle, waiting for new looks. Moved by sails of emotion, waiting for the wind.”

Leiden is a city rich in history and vibrant culture, home to the prestigious Leiden University, which has welcomed brilliant minds such as Albert Einstein and Rembrandt. In addition to its academic importance, its picturesque canals create a charming and intimate atmosphere, reminiscent of Amsterdam, but with a quieter, more personal touch. Walking along its riverside streets offers a sense of serenity and beauty, making it an ideal destination for those seeking a quiet retreat amidst the wonders of the Netherlands. The city boasts extraordinary museums, including the National Museum of Antiquities, which houses valuable art collections and archaeological treasures, and the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, a must-see for nature and science lovers. Every spring, the tulip fields surrounding Leiden explode in a spectacular riot of color and scent, attracting visitors from all over the world. A unique cultural initiative, “Poems on the Walls“, has transformed Leiden into an open-air gallery, with over 100 poems painted on the facades of historic buildings. You summarize in your travel diary what the guide explained to you: “This poetic path, creating an interaction between literature and urban space, invites me to stop and reflect on the words of international authors. Leiden merges history, art and contemporary culture, therefore, I will have a unique experience in which knowledge and creativity blend harmoniously.”

ASTONISHMENT: “Trying with eyes, it happens of exploring the aptitudes of the heart.”

Determining the most famous poems with certainty is difficult, as fame is subjective and depends on factors such as the fame of the poet, the impact of the poem, or its visibility. However, the Poems on the Walls project in Leiden brings together a variety of styles and languages, including verses by well-known authors. One of the poems not included in the tour is “A Coat” by William Butler Yeats, located at Lange Mare 31-33. You know it by heart, so you decide to write it down in your diary: “I have made my song a coat covered with the embroidery of ancient myths from heel to throat; but fools have taken it, for there is more resourcefulness in walking naked.” Your guide explains that the “Poems on the Walls” project has enriched Leiden’s cultural landscape, turning it into a living gallery. By integrating poetry into the urban space, it has fostered a new appreciation of the written word, inspiring residents and visitors to reflect on verses from different eras and cultures. “This initiative,” emphasizes the left-hander, browsing your diary, “has made the city a place of inspiration for literature lovers. Through classic and contemporary verses in multiple languages, Leiden stimulates intercultural dialogue and offers you a unique poetic experience.”

RECOGNIZE THEMSELVES: “Composing rhymes under the skin. Their irises are gestures and words that run and seek, exploring the wonder of identify. Once again.”

Your poetic walk begins along the Rijn River, where at Haagweg 29, you spot the mural “Leningrad” by Osip Mandelstam, a 20th-century Russian poet who faced political persecution. The poem, intense and evocative, reflects Mandelstam’s torment and nostalgia for St. Petersburg, renamed Leningrad after the Russian Revolution. Its melancholy tone captures a city transformed by repression, where memory becomes a refuge. You note in your diary the title of one of his collections of poems: “A Coat of a Thousand Colors: Osip Mandelstam and His Mythologies of Self-Presentation.” Crossing the Witte Singel and Steenschuur canals, you reach Rapenburg 30, right on the corner of Houtstraat. Here, you look up to see a classic of English poetry: William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet XXX.” Although you don’t remember it, your Italian guide recites for you the lines, which reflect on love, loss and memory: “When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste: Then can I drown an eye, unused 1  to flow, For precious friends hid in death’s dateless night, And weep afresh love’s long since cancelled woe, And moan the expense of many a vanished sight: Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, And heavily from woe to woe tell o’er The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan, Which I knew pay as if not paid before. But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, all losses are restored 2 and sorrows end.” 

Read the poems painted on the walls at Rapenburg 30 and Nieuwe Steeg 1. Then, after the one at Zonneveld Straat 18, your left-handed guide directs your attention elsewhere. “I’m hungry. How about a typical Dutch restaurant? Just a few steps away, but trust me, you won’t be disappointed.” You accept the cigar-smoking Italian’s invitation and continue the conversation, discussing both the poems on the walls and those written by your companion. “Van Leeuwenhoekstraat 13, Bregje Leiden Restaurant, here we are at last,” he says, inviting you to go in first. “How does the menu work?” you ask. He reassures you, clearly familiar with the place. “You can choose three courses from the full menu,” he explains. “These young waitresses weren’t even born when this place was still called Marktcafé Van Dijk. You won’t believe it, but during the weekly pig market, many traders liked to stop here.” After finishing your meal, you say goodbye outside the restaurant. Reality calls: work, daily life and unresolved problems await you. You extend your right hand to greet him; your guide responds with both hands and surprises you. “I’ll see you next Friday in the Parc de Montjuïc in Barcelona, ​​​​at the Mirador del Migdia. You won’t have any trouble recognizing me: I’ll be the only smoker of Toscano Antica Riserva.”

Rembrandt van Rijn and the chiaroscuro technique: a way of painting that underscored dramatic contrasts and a profound psychological rendering of its subjects and atmosphere. Leiden, the city that nurtured Rembrandt van Rijn, celebrated for his painterly style defined by a masterful play of light and shadow, provides the setting for this new voyage. His native city remained a vital thread in his identity and the genesis of his artistic path. Likewise, Dastilige Nevante‘s digital brushwork possesses a rich, tactile quality; drawing inspiration from Rembrandt and the verses inscribed on the walls of Leiden, the artist employs a comparable treatment of the pictorial surface, bestowing emotional resonance upon his figures. Accompanied as always by a FiftySound soundtrack, this time “Bohemian Garden,” Nevante conjures a new journey that transcends the boundaries of reality, where even his poems metamorphose into digital paintings upon the walls of the mind’s eye.