The Jigsaw Gallery

Having completed Jan van Haasteren’s Crazy Harbour about ten days ago, I noted that, although one piece was, sadly, missing (thus rendering it a 1499-piece puzzle), it was at least missing from somewhere appropriate on the picture. That place showed should have shown four passengers in a small and rapidly sinking boat, but instead only three were visible.

More than a week on, I was tidying a few things in one corner of the living room and moved a space heater (redundant for the time being, thanks to the onset of springtime) from in front of the sideboard. There it was, the missing piece, underneath, if not thirty fathoms of salty sea water, at least half an inch of dust bunny!

It may be a mere jigsaw piece to most people, but to us it was like raising the Titanic.

We have dubbed the little grey-suited fellow a jigsaw shipwreck survivor. In real life he would, after the inevitable course of counselling to overcome the effects of his ordeal, sell his story for a handsome fee to one of those tacky tabloid newspapers. In this house, however, he has been reunited with the rest of his body — and with the other 1499 pieces of the puzzle — and plonked back in the box where he belongs. We’ll be keeping a close eye on him from now on.

 

What would it be like to be a character in a Jan van Haasteren picture? Well, I can only guess that it would be scary in the extreme, with accidents happening everywhere, not to mention the ever-present threat of those JvH signatures, the marauding octopus or the big black shark. And the air surrounding the ships, both big and little, in this Crazy Harbour scene would surely be turned blue with people’s shouts and curses, as one vessel collides with another, and yet another either breaks in two or slowly sinks to the bottom.

Jan van Haasteren may be a Dutchman, and the Netherlands is well known for having lots of water, whether it be canals or harbours. Nowhere, though, could possibly be as chaotic as the harbour on this jigsaw. I therefore conclude that Jan has a fantastically vivid imagination. (But you probably knew that already, didn’t you?)

It’s not all doom, gloom and glug, glug, glug in this cartoon, though. Some of the sailors are having lots of fun: drinking wine, snoozing, or flirting with passengers on other boats. Of course, if they spent less time carousing and more time paying attention to where they were heading, this harbour scene would be a lot safer; unfortunately, though, it wouldn’t be half so much fun.

Crazy Harbour was another of our bargain discoveries. Described as a 1500-piece puzzle, it actually had 1499 pieces. The missing jigsaw piece, appropriately, is at the rear of a small boat containing five people. The boat is sinking fast. The missing part makes it appear as if one hapless passenger has sunk quicker than his companions. Let’s just hope he floats back up soon, eh?