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The sculptures of Jan Snoeck are recognisable and accessible. Everyone knows his worm-shaped figures. In the course of his career he has made many of them in the squares and streets of our country. Initially, Snoeck made sculptures in stone, wood and metal. Sometimes these were abstract sculptures, but sometimes almost figurative sculptures, such as his 'Rasp' in The Hague. Since the sixties he has been working in clay. The sculptor switched to this material because he wanted to work with colour.

The visual language developed by Snoeck is characterised by simplicity. He reduces all things to their essence. Snoeck finds inspiration for this, for example, in archaic, Greek and Egyptian sculpture. He also feels an affinity with the old American civilisations. In the textiles, paintings and graphics made by Snoeck one encounters a similar visual language as in his sculptures: soft, clear forms and often primary colours.

The moment Snoeck started working in clay, a theme immediately emerged that has been a recurring theme in his oeuvre: the worm. This form also appears in his pedestal sculpture. The worm is the most rudimentary form you can make in clay. It is a primal form which for Snoeck refers to man and at the same time to the divine. Like man, the worms lie, stand, sit and walk. The worm in front of the pedestal sculpture is sitting comfortably on a chair.

The sculptor chose the poetic title 'La nostalgie de la lumière totale' (literally: the nostalgia of total light) for his pedestal sculpture. It turns out to be a line from a poem by Snoeck's beloved French writer/poet Paul Eluard. For Snoeck, as in his other work, this pedestal sculpture ultimately revolves around the essence of man.