VIEW IN MY ROOM
HILBERT'S HOTEL Painting
Denmark
Painting, Oil on Canvas
Size: 31.5 W x 39.4 H x 0.7 D in
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About The Artwork
With this work we move into the modern era of mathematics. Around 1900, Hilbert was one of the leading mathematicians. In this work we tell the story of Hilbert’s hotel, a hotel with infinitely many rooms (numbered 0, 1, 2, 3, …). According to the story, if the hotel is full and an additional customer arrives, he can be accommodated by moving all the existing customers one room to the right (i.e. to the room whose number is 1 greater than the current room). The new customer may then move into the room with number 0. This shows that the set of natural numbers has the same size as the same set extended with one additional element. In a manner of speaking, the elements of the first set can be paired with the elements of the second. The two sets thus have the same degree of infinity. In the unfortunate event that a bus arrives with infinitely many customers (as many as are currently accommodated by the hotel), we can make room for the new customers by moving all the existing customers to the room whose number is twice the number of the current room. This illustrates that the set has the same size, whether you take one or two copies of the natural numbers As the work shows, even if a bus arrives with as many customers as there are fractions (or, equivalently, if infinitely many busses with infinitely many customers arrive, where “infinitely” is taken in the same sense as above), room can still be made. The rendering of this work is inspired by talks with Niels Corfitzen who created a beautiful work with the same title. This work is part of the series THEOREMS AND PROOFS. The works illustrate – directly or indirectly – a theorem with a beautiful proof according to the criteria put forth by the mathematician Hardy in his classical book A Mathematician's Apology: surprise combined with something inevitable, economy and depth.
Details & Dimensions
Painting:Oil on Canvas
Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork
Size:31.5 W x 39.4 H x 0.7 D in
Frame:Silver
Ready to Hang:Not applicable
Packaging:Ships in a Box
Shipping & Returns
Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.
Handling:Ships in a box. Artists are responsible for packaging and adhering to Saatchi Art’s packaging guidelines.
Ships From:Denmark.
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Denmark
In our works we try to convey the aesthetics of deep ideas in poetry, philosophy and mathematics in a manner which is also visually appealing. Some works start out from a text, others from a theorem or a proof. They usually contain multiple layers of both paint and ideas. The result in each case is hopefully a work which can be approached and appreciated by means of intuition and immediate dialog, but which will also lend itself to increasing reflection and surprise over time. Our materials and production of the paintings are largely industrial, proceeding as one would when painting a building or a piece of furniture. We were not consciously inspired by any one particular artist initially. However, we saw in hindsight a resemblance with Franz Kline and Mark Rothko and accepted the herritage along the way.
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