Like numerous other cycles of van Eeden's work, The Villa is set in the same period, due to his conceptual approach of always locating his pictorial narratives in time before his birth in 1965 and thus linking his own existence with history. At first glance, the present series, which is dedicated to the legendary cultural site of the Villa Flora and the collector couple Hedy and Arthur Hahnloser (1870 - 1936), appears to be less occultist.
is dedicated to them. Hedy Hahnloser (1873 - 1952) forms the actual epicenter of a "narration" that is as spun out as it is temporally and spatially sprawling. From 1907 onwards, Hedy and Arthur Hahnloser began to build up an important collection of contemporary, primarily French art, including paintings and sculptures by Pierre Bonnard, Félix Vallotton, Aristide Maillol, Henri Matisse and Henri Manguin. In preparation for his exhibition at Villa Flora, the artist created a series of thirty-one nero pencil drawings and fifteen black and white photographs of the villa, its inhabitants and their possible connections. The latter were realized using the traditional process of rubber printing technique. Photographed during and after the renovation of the villa, this method lends the images a decidedly historical expression.