During his lifetime, the painter Carel Willink (1900-1983), who described himself as an ‘imaginary realist’, developed an idiosyncratic methodology for elaborating his ideas. When making his preparatory sketches he collected visual material, postcards, photos from newspapers and periodicals such as National Geographic, as inspiration, and when necessary he used a camera to capture his subjects photographically. There are various examples of photos that he incorporated into his paintings. Besides portraits and nudes, Willink photographed statues and monuments that he encountered on his travels, which included Florence, Berlin, Paris and the park of Versailles.