A black-and-white photograph of an Amsterdam canal with a red bicycle. At first glance, it seems unremarkable. Yet this very image became world-famous after IKEA added the poster to its range. In the VPRO Dorst documentary Vilshult, filmmaker Tom Roes investigates the story behind the photograph. It leads to a surprising tale of love, death, chance, and a bicycle beside an Amsterdam canal on a crisp spring day twenty years earlier.
The documentary can be watched online. The Amsterdam Museum also added the photograph to its permanent collection on Thursday, November 8.
Tom conceived the idea for the Vilshult documentary after his girlfriend bought the IKEA poster. He then began seeing the image everywhere. At the same time, many of his friends mocked it as the epitome of bad taste. That prompted him to explore the story and the photographer behind the image. IKEA's Vilshult poster had by then sold half a million copies and adorned countless hotel rooms and student homes.
How did this particular photograph end up on IKEA's shelves? In a search that takes him to the photographer's brother in Los Angeles, the 2004 tsunami, Oprah Winfrey, a former boyfriend, and IKEA's chief designer, Tom unravels a remarkable story connecting the life of a successful photographer with a quarrel between two lovers and the business model of an international retailer.
Imara Limon, curator at the Amsterdam Museum: "This framed image of a photograph of a bicycle beside an Amsterdam canal, which sold more than half a million copies worldwide, shows the appeal of the city of Amsterdam . It represents what people around the world who have this image hanging on their wall associate with the city of Amsterdam."
Tom Roes is no stranger to the media world. After brief stints at CQC and GeenStijl , he worked as a director and editor on programs including De Rekenkamer, Mindf*ck, De Keuringsdienst van Waarde, Broodje Gezond and De Proefkeuken. He also founded the YouTube channel Survival Guide to the Dutch and has contributed to De Speldsince its early days. In 2015, Tom also won De Slimste Mens.
