Three Van Gogh paintings at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

Three Van Gogh paintings at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.

Evening Landscape, 1885, (oil on canvas)

In April 1885, while concentrating on the series devoted to the Potato eaters, Van Gogh wrote to his brother, 'I am also working on a red sunset'. As in the portraits of country folk eating in a shadowy room, this landscape, which is almost norcturnal, allows him to paint the darkness he so admired in 17th century Netherlandish painting. In this first Dutch period which preceded his move to Paris, where his palette became more luminous and colourful owing to the influence of the new artistic trends that emerged around him, Van Gogh's style is characterised by a realism with strong tenebrist undertones.

The Stevedores in Arles, 1888, (oil on canvas)

When Van Gogh arrived in Arles in 1888 seeking the luminous atmosphere of the French Midi, he eschewed pointillist and Impressionist methods in favour of more synthetic forms and louder colours. The Stevedores in Arles, which clearly shows this stylistic change is painted with thick, elongated brushstrokes and marked colour contrasts. It shows a view of the Rhone with a blazing sunset in which the motifs of the composition - clearly influenced by Japanese art - stand out against the light. 

'I saw a magnificent and strange effect this evening', he wrote to his brother Theo. 'A very big boat loaded with coal on the Rhone, moored to the quay. Seen from above it was all shining and wet with a shower; the water was yellowish-white and clouded pearl gray; the sky, lilac with an orange streak in the west; the town, violet. On the boat some poor workmen in dirty blue and white came and went carrying the cargo on shore. It was pure Hokusai'.

Les Vessenots in Auvers, 1890, (oil on canvas)

This landscape of Les Vessenots, on the outskirts of Auvers, shows a group of old country cottages placed just below a raised horizon; further down, wheat fields stretch to the bottom of the canvas, broken only by a few swaying trees, The narrow colour range - mainly bright greens and yellows - and the nervous, agitated brushstrokes following a repetitive, undulating rhythm, are characteristic of the artist's work in his final period.

Van Gogh painted a large number of landscapes in the weeks before his death, always working outdoors. By that time, he was prey to all manner of conflicting moods: the vast expanses of fertile cropland gave him a sense of freedom, but at the same time intensified the feeling of melancholy and loneliness which would eventually lead to his suicide.

Paul Delvaux, The Viaduct

The Viaduct by Paul Delvaux at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid

Paul Delvaux, The Viaduct, 1963, (oil on canvas)

I love Delvaux's atmospheric paintings and rarely get the chance to see one, so I thought I would do a separate post on this one.

Evoking Delvaux's world without referring to trains is impossible, since it is a recurring theme in his work. Here he reveals himself as a painter of reality, of a meticulous reality. In Delvaux, no detail is left to chance, and each element is studied in depth. In fact, he ordered scale models of trains and trams which reigned over his studio, next to a skeleton, another important source of inspiration. That way, every time he wished to do so, he was able to copy them carefully and integrate them in his works.

The Viaduct is a very interesting piece, because it gathers in a single, very dense composition, all the elements which constitute the artist's world: the suspended lamps found in his childhood homes, the magical and unusual atmosphere of the stations at nightfall, the mysterious train passing and covering the horizon with its strange smoke, the mirror reflecting another world, another reality. Everything is fixed, inanimate, waiting for an event which does not take place. The work frightens and at the same time fascinates, since it is inhabited by poetry. The houses are lit, but no human being seems to live in them. No life animates this composition constructed like a theatrical scene. 

There is the foreground, with that strange mirror whose presence in a street or under a shelter, reminding us of a train station, is unreal; and the background scenery: a train passes and seems to float in the night sky. Such a particular world is made of simplicity and reality, but, due to the contrasts existing between the real elements and their anachronistic or unusual association, the artist creates unreality, daydream, poetry. Although all the elements of the painting are realistic, the image as a whole is not. Time no longer exists. 

Everything in the painting exists, everything has a name, everything is known by everybody and can be grasped by everyone, but Delvaux, like a magician, puts together things that usually are not, makes fun of time and space. With traditional materials, he creates what has been called  'the world of Delvaux' -  a world of poetry.

Women artists in the Reina Sofia Museum

Women artists at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia,  Madrid.  

I have no idea why there was this section in the museum's exhibits, as there are lots of women artists' work displayed around the museum. This small room had some works I really liked however, so I thought I would do a separate post on them, just as there was in the museum. 

Olga Sacharoff, Merry-go-round at the Fair, 1934

Eva Aggerholm, Head of a Young Woman, 1929

Angeles Santos, Self-Portrait, 1928

Rosario de Velasco, Untitled (The Children's Room), 1932-33

Angeles Santos, The Gathering, 1929

Maruja Mallo, The Fair, 1927

Delhy Tejero, Witches with Oil Lamps, 1932

Cubism at the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum

Cubism at the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.

Cubism, invented around 1907 by Picasso and Braque, who were soon followed by Juan Gris, was a revolutionary way of representing reality, far removed from traditional illusionism. The simplicity of Romanesque images, the geometry of African masks and, above, the synthetic paintings of Cezanne's final period were the main sources of inspiration for the new art. Replacing the natural world with a perceived world, the new language paved the way for a long tradition of modernity.

In an attempt to classify the revolutionary experiments made by Picasso, Braque and Gris when they were exponents of Cubism, historians have tended to divide Cubism in two stages. The early phase, generally considered to run from 1908-12 is called Analytical Cubism because of its structured dissection of the subject, viewpoint-by-viewpoint, resulting in a fragmentary image of multiple viewpoints and overlapping planes. Another distinguishing feature of Analytical Cubism is a simplified palette of colours, so the viewer is not distracted from the structure of the form, and the density of the image at the centre of the canvas.

Synthetic Cubism on the other hand, began when artists started adding textures and patterns to their paintings, experimenting with collage using newspaper print and patterned paper. Analytical Cubism was about breaking down an object (like a bottle) viewpoint-by-viewpoint, into a fragmentary image; whereas synthetic Cubism was about flatterning out the image and sweeping away the last traces of allusion to three-dimensional space. This fragmentation and simultaneity of forms of Synthetic Cubism created a new dimension of anti-naturalistic and irrational space that raised the problem of the autonomy of art for the first time.

The works in this post are mainly examples of Analytical Cubism.

Piet Mondrian, Composition No. XIII, 1913

Piet Mondrian, Composition No. 1 in Red and Blue, 1931

Piet Mondrian, New York City, 3, (unfinished), 1941

Vilmos Huszar, Composition, 1955-60

Natalia Goncharova, The Forest, 1913

You can see more of Goncharova's work here and here

Olga Rosanova, Man on the Street, 1913

Nadeshda Udaltsova, Cubism, 1914

Liubov Popova, Painterly Architectonic, 1915

Liubov Popova, Painterly Architectonic, 1918

Fernand Leger, The Disc, 1918

To see more of Leger's work go here

Surrealism at the Reina Sofia Museum

Surrealism at the Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid.

There was quite a large section of Surrealist works in the museum's collection and I am reproducing some of them here.

Surrealism originated as a literary movement that used the written word in all its forms as a loudspeaker for its aesthetic ideas. These ideas would form the base of a fruitful artistic practice. With the publication in 1924 of the First Manifesto of Surrealism, Andre Breton defined the movement's basic principles. These principles included the importance of writing as the main vehicle in the artist's psyche; automatic writing; and an idealism that sought values such as the imagination, beauty, profoundness and love.

The movement originated in Europe in the aftermath of WWI in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike scenes and ideas. Its intention was, according to Andre Breton, to 'resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality', or surreality. Works of Surrealism feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur. 

The dissemination of the movement and its ideological and artistic development, proposals and debates were expressed in an array of magazines which were, according to Breton, 'a means of contact catering to the different and changing expectations of a corresponding, undefined audience. They give us a respiratory rhythm adapted, at the same time, to our vital needs and to the nature of ambient air'.

Based primarily in Paris, the Surrealists gained international exposure in the 1930s, which spread across different European countries, before reaching the USA, Japan and Egypt.

From the publication of the Second Manifesto the movement edged closer to more revolutionary stances. Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was, above all, a revolutionary movement. At the time, the movement was associated with political causes such as communism and anarchism. Breton and other Surrealists attacked the French government for the exploitation and oppression of colonised people. 

Oscar Dominguez, Butterlifes Lost in the Mountains

Oscar Dominguez, Guanche Cave, 1935

Maruja Mallo, Den of Fossils, 1940

Juan Ismael, (Ismael Gonzalez Mora), Head Over Heels Love, 1935

Joan Miro, Woman and Dog in Front of the Moon, 1935

Vassily Kandinsky, Free, 1927

To see more of Kandinsky's work go here

Willi Baumeister, Tennis Player on Yellow, 1933

Pablo Picasso, Woman in a Garden, 1930-32

To see more of Picasso's work go here , here , here (even though this last one, is a general post, there is quite a lot of Picasso in it, interesting pieces, but also some Juan Miro and Kazimir Malevich) 

Pablo Picasso, The Swimmer, 1934

Yves Tanguy, Belomancy I, 1927

Max Ernst, The Beautiful German Woman, 1934-35

Max Ernst, Red Birds, 1926

Francis Picabia, Amsel ou Sagesse, 1930

Joan Miro, Painting (Swallow), 1937

Salvador Dali, The Endless Enigma, 1938

To see more of Dali you can go here

Rene Magritte, Pink Bells, Tattered Skies, 1930.

Salvador Dali, Gradiva Rediscovers the Anthropomorphic Ruins, 1932

Joan Miro

Rene Magritte, La Clef des Champs, 1936

Salvador Dali, Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second before Waking up, 1944.

To see more on Surrealism you can go here , here , and here

Marlene Dumas - Cycladic Blues, Part 2

Marlene Dumas - Cycladic Blues, part 2

at the Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens.

This is the second part of this thought-provoking exhibition. You can see part 1 here .

I am including here the introduction to part 1, so that if people do not wish to look at the first part, they can still get an over-view of the work of this artist. If hyou have read this already, skip this and go to the first picture below.

Dumas was born in South Africa during the years of Apartheid but has lived and worked in Amsterdam for nearly five decades. The artist has spent her career using painting to explore all human states of being ranging from violence, mourning and melancholy to joy and tenderness. She's done this over and over by taking the human body as her subject.

This exhibitionjn brings together a diverse range of over 40 of the artist's works spanning the past three decades. Whether it's in ink, crayon and pencil drawings on paper or some of her more monumentally scaled vertical canvases, these are testaments to the whole of human experience - life and death, love and hate, rememberance and forgetfulness. Dumas has suggested that 'painting is about the trace of the human touch'.

Dumas' paintings explore sexuality, love, death, motherhood, intimate relationships and political issues, often referencing art history, popular culture and current affairs. She describes her approach as one in which 'second-hand images generate first-hand emotions'. She infuses her source materials with personal feelings from her own lived experience.

She examines the complexities of identity and the nature of human existence, highlighting the unexpected coexistence of violence and innocence. Usually politically charged, her work addresses social injustices, challenging us to consider the often elusive truth. She works without a predetermined plan, relying on her intuition, resulting in works full of ambiguity.

I love Dumas' work and experiencing her work alongside ancient objects from the Cycladic civilisation - a prehistoric culture that existed between 3000 and 1000 BC, about which we know little - was very touching. I love the female figurines of that civilisation, some of which are depicted with their belly pronounced, perhaps indicating pregnancy, and which are so mysterious and so minimalist.

In this wonderful, round room, some of Dumas' drawings are exhibited 

In the middle of the room,

Statuette of a Boy Holding a Hare, 3rd c. BC, (marble)

Dorothy D-Lite, 1998, (ink and acrylic on paper)

Young Boy (Pale Skin), 1996, (ink wash and watercolour on paper)

Give me the Head of John the Baptist, 1992, (ink, crayon and pencil on paper), 17 drawings

Dumas' daughter Helena and her first grandchild, Eden, feature in many of her works, usually gentle works. Sometimes, though, Helena is depicted as a child figure, but not as herself.

In this series of 17 drawings, Give me the Head of John the Baptist, Dumas explains that 'the worlds of actuality, literature and imagination are intertwined. Here, the story gets darker. Cultures may differ, but the essential problems regarding pleasure and pain always remain the same: being born, being young, being attractive and seductive, being betrayed and attacked, being old and trying not to die'.

This installation of 17 drawings is a free rendering of the Biblical story of Salome and John the Baptist. Imprinted with ink, pastel and pencil, Dumas' drawings depict this story of desire and discontent in a dreamy and almost cinematic way. It  is a story that shows the power of desire - it involves a dance, a promise and a tragic request.  

Salome's dance led the king to give her what she asked for - John the Baptist's head. The drawings capture the tragic moment of the crushing of childlike innocence by violence and desire. They include scenes depicting Salome holding the Baptist's bloody head, herself dancing with his head on a disc before his body is dismembered, a close-up of John's disembodied head with the words 'No Body' engraved at the buttom of the frame.

                                                                                      *   *   *

'My smaller drawings show that my work is not really naturalistic, clearly. All of these works on paper in the exhibition are simplified and imaginary bodies. Words like 'unfinished', 'fragment', 'detail', come to mind. Was a head left out for a reason or torn off in frustration? Why is the neck so elongated? By renaming a work, it can move from the past to being more recent history. Sometimes it can also be humorous and cartoon-like, as reflected in the title Whatever Happened to the Greeks?!'

Whatever Happened to the Greeks?! 2020, (mixed media on paper)

The Conversation in the Garden of Eden, 1998, (mixed media on paper)

Long Neck, (fragment), 1998, (mixed media on paper)

Trapped, 2001, (mixed media on paper)

Anguish, 2000, (ink and pencil on paper)

Jesus Looking for his Cross, 1994, (mixed media on paper)

Head, 2019, (metallic acrylic on paper)

Torso, 1998, (mixed media on paper)

Back, 1994, (mixed media on paper)

To see more work by Marlene Dumas go  here