BBC Documentary 2015 Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, also known as Pablo Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973), was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright who spent most of his adult life in France. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, he…
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His Muse and Mistress Part II by Alaister Sooke Anton Foek Amsterdam, August 18th 2021–A very short trip to an ancient village probably was the catalyst for a profound shift in Picasso’s work – but it is often overlooked. One day in June 1906, Pablo Picasso arrived in the ancient Catalan village of Gosol, high in the…
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Françoise Gilot and Picasso A.F. Amsterdam/Antibes, August 18th 2021– Overlooking the Riviera coast, the Château Grimaldi in Antibes provides a dramatic setting for the world’s first museum dedicated to the works of Pablo Picasso The imposing medieval fortress in Antibes known as the Château Grimaldi was used by Pablo Picasso as a studio in 1946,…
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The Chapel in Vence AF Amsterdam, August 14, 2021–Don’t beat around the bush and we’re certainly not going to lie to each other, but when we visit the Chapel of the Rosary in Vence, near Nice on the Riviera in Southern France, it’s not necessarily out of love for sacred art. It is rather and…
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Grand mural projects by Jeremy Musson Amsterdam, 23 July 2021–In her book, Lydia Hamlett unpacks the literary, cultural and political significance of “the animated wall” Mural paintings are some of the most ambitious works of art commissioned by British patrons during the 17th and early 18th centuries. From Rubens’ work at Banqueting House, Whitehall, to…
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Learning from Art Part V Amsterdam, June 30 2021– “Spiritually speaking, I stay miles away from my bookcase when I write,” says Stefan Hertmans. “Yet reminiscences of other literature haunt my books, quite unconsciously and unintentionally. You can find traces of Rilke’s The Diary of Malte Laurids Brigge in all my prose work.” The poet,…
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Read Rilke or the Artist as a Teacher Part III Amsterdam, June 30 2021– Writers are often asked: why do you write? Readers are never asked: why do you read? Literary theory does indeed look at all kinds of aspects of a work of art, but something is grossly neglected, according to literary scholar Jan…
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Subtle vibrations of pigments, deep flesh, and mental universe. In and out are embraced in this dense painting superbly matted. A bright light haunts its depths, sublimating appearances. Very close to abstraction, Bernard de Wolff’s painting absorbs all contours. The landscapes or the bodies incant the expanse in the same moving and fusional way, scattered…
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The Family of Man Edward Steichen Photographic Exhibition The Family of Man was a photography exhibition curated by Edward Steichen first shown in 1955 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. According to Steichen, the exhibition represented the ‘culmination of his career’. The 508 photos by 273 photographers in 68 countries were selected…
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Lessons for Life Amsterdam, 25 Feb. 2021– When I once, long ago, privately met with the fabulous Miles Davis in Berlin after a concert arranged by Hans-Georg Brunner Schwer, he, among many other things said,: “It takes a long time to sound like yourself.” That remark surely took its time to ripen and grow as I went on with life…
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