SHARING WITH ME

After the Bosch visit, we all returned to Paris and after the pouring rain were happy to discover something like sun was on the agenda. Unfortunately, the day we chose to visit the Louis Vuitton centre in Boulogne, the sun had disappeared. A shame as the building is so dramatic that sun helps us to admire the extraordinary view of Paris. With the exception of one visit, I have always been treated to grey and angry clouds. The exhibition was « Chinese artists in a time of turbulence and transformation » This is the first exhibition of Chinese contemporary art in France in ten years. The basement galleries were a very curious affair. Young Chinese artists. l only recognized one name Hao Liang. When I visited the art centre in Beijing it is quite probable that l saw the work of many of these artists but it was only and is only, even today, those who have been exposed to a European culture that seem to attract my attention. Perhaps that is a derogative remark but after all

After « The Fish Pond » I found myself reveling in poetry, music and image. It was a wonderful feeling. But had we seen everything that there was to see? How wonderful « Modern Classics » appeared before my eyes so up to the top floor of the Stedelijk Museum. We know that the great artists from the first half of the 20th century were mainly painters and sculptors. For a long time, art history focused on these disciplines which I discovered during my many conferences. Perhaps they overlooked other parts of the artists’ work? Along the way I have discovered that the « classic modernists » could turn their hand to anything: they made prints, designed textiles or stage sets….can you think of anyone that I am talking about? All the artists are well known and all of them spent extended period living and working in France and most of them were acquainted. They even challenged one another to explore new directions. Picasso encouraged Marc Chagall and Georges Braque to work with ceramics…

As part of the celebration of Jheronimus Bosch 500 there was  a monumental video installation, The Fish Pond Song by Jeroen Kooijmans from 19 December 2015 through to 5 June 2016. The main source of inspiration for this cinematographic triptych was Bosch’ masterpiece The Garden of Earthly Delights. The Garden of Earthly Delights In The Fish Pond Song an imaginary war is sung in three chapters: no clashing of arms, but in accordance with Bosch’s triptych, a layered narration full of deeply human fears and dreams. War is an imaginative abstraction here; evil is lurking, we see disturbed minds and yet hope dawns. Faith had been a topic for some time in Kooijmans’ work when the attack on the Twin Towers occurred in 2001. At the time, Kooijmans lived in New York and while the deeply religious perpetrators were on their way to the promised paradise with 72 virgins, Kooijmans’ private hell broke loose. The launch of the ‘War on Terror’ had a profound impact on his personal life and u

We have been planning this trip for a year. Of course it was going to be a block buster. To celebrate the 500 years Jheronimus Bosch in the Noordbrabants museum in his home town Bois-Le-Duc in Holland. Marielle who is a crack on the subject, introduced me to this painter some ten or more years ago. Everyone knows Bosch without necessarily knowing his background and really who  he is. Those mythical creatures, horrific animals and sour faced individuals must have caught our attention somewhere along the line. Marielle must have seen all the paintings that are in Europe but when we were looking at the books yesterday, there is still a lot of arguments going on about « was it an original or wasn’t it? » Even to the extent that the Prado in Madrid, withdrew two paintings they were to send as they contested the 6 years of research and for two paintings, the findings of the specialists.                                          PRADO'S DECISION There is NO way I can explain Bosch. The