King of the Road is a large oil pastel work (100 × 140 cm) born from the extraordinary art and life project Passeggiata sulle Alpi.
Over the course of 120 days, Henrik Hofsaess and his family travelled 1200 km on foot from Bistagno in Piedmont across the Alps and Austria to the Wartburg in the heart of Germany, following the traces of their ancestors.
An entire family — parents, four children between ten months and seven years old, a dog and three donkeys — crossed three countries carrying only what they needed, sleeping in tents and encountering people along the way.
The donkeys became the true heroes of the journey. One of them is portrayed here as the “King of the Road” — proud, strong and full of dignity.
The work reflects on slowness, endurance and the deep connection between human beings, animals and nature — values increasingly disappearing in the noise and acceleration of the modern world.
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Henrik Hofsaess (born 1968 in Pforzheim, Germany) is a contemporary figurative painter living between Italy and Germany.
At the center of his work stands the human being — vulnerable, searching and deeply connected to nature, memory and time. Using earth pigments, stone pigments and expressive materials such as oil pastels, Hofsaess creates works that combine emotional immediacy with a timeless, almost archaic atmosphere.
His paintings explore what remains essential in an increasingly digitalized and accelerated world.
His works have been exhibited in Germany and Italy and were recently recognized with the second prize of the international “Villa Cattaneo” award by the Sospiro Foundation and the European art critics association Minerva.