Mexico: “This is almost like a Rothko,” says van Eijk. “It’s a strange combination of these flat, heavy color surfaces and at the same time these strange gray elements placed on top of there. This was just a regular street, nothing special. But we saw the same thing in India, and you sometimes wonder why is the Western world not painted? Why is everything so grey? People are afraid of these colors I think.” Adds van Bleiswijk: “Sometimes you do see new areas that try to paint everything very bright, but it always looks fake; it’s never honest. It also has to do with tradition: People in these countries are really good at painting their houses. They have a natural sense of color.”