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Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Presents Kees was Here Exhibition

A presentation, open through 23 January 2011, exploring the fascinating times in which Kees van Dongen lived and worked will be staged alongside the exhibition ‘All Eyes on Van Dongen’ in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

The presentation includes original audio-visual material from the nineteen-twenties and thirties. There will be an exclusive press preview about Kees van Dongen on Thursday 16 September.

This autumn Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen focuses on Kees van Dongen (1877-1968). The major exhibition ‘All Eyes on Kees van Dongen’, which will show a unique selection of paintings and drawings, will be accompanied by a display devoted to the artist in the Art Studio. This bright space on the museum’s ground floor will present background information about the times in which Van Dongen lived, with moving images, historical objects, literature and illustrations by the artist himself. The collection gives a glimpse into the turbulent times that were such a crucial part of Kees van Dongen’s rise to international fame.

Turbulent times
The misery of the First World War (1914-18) was followed by the decade known as the Roaring Twenties. In Europe and America people went wild. These were years marked by optimistic visions of the future and lavish parties. Electricity arrived in many a home, passenger s could cross the Atlantic by plane for the first time, and radio made its debut. It was a time when the image of woman was changed by fashion designers like Paul Poiret and Coco Chanel. This was the world in which Kees van Dongen lived and worked. His studio was a hive of activity. In those heady days the artist was known as the portrait painter to the international and Parisian beau-monde and he was surrounded by beautiful actresses, influential authors and celebrated fashion designers.

Press preview
This autumn Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is staging an exhibition of paintings by the internationally renowned artist Kees van Dongen. The exhibition presents a balanced selection of around eighty masterpieces, including sixty-five paintings that have been flown in from international collections as far afield as New York, Monaco, Geneva and Moscow. Many of the works come from international private collections or still belong to the family, and have seldom if ever been loaned before. There will be an exclusive press preview of ‘All Eyes on Kees van Dongen’ on Thursday 16 September. The programme will start at 1130 a.m. and will last until around 5.00 p.m. Please apply for a place now as availability is limited!

New educational platforms
The Art Studio is one of the museum’s three new platforms for educational activities. Lectures, workshops and receptions take place in the Art Studio and individual visitors can use it too. It is a space in which to meet, inspire and share. Exhibitions are often staged in the Art Studio. The other platforms are the Art Tube video channel launched in October 2009 and the Boijmans TV television programme that made its debut this spring.

‘Kees was here’ was made possible in part by the VSBfonds, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s partner in education.

Image: Kees van Dongen La réussite, from the series Petit histoire pour petits et grands enfants (1901). Published in L’ Assiette au beurre No. 30, 26 October 1901

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Museumpark 18-20
3015 CX Rotterdam
The Netherlands
T: +31 (0)10 44.19.400
F: +31 (0)10 43.60.500
e-mail: [email protected]

www.boijmans.nl

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