THE BOIJMANS VAN BEUNINGEN MUSEUM IN ROTTERDAM IS FOCUSING ON WORLD CLASS DESIGN

The Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum is an art gallery of international stature, located in the Museumpark in Rotterdam. It has been exhibiting masterpieces of visual art, applied art and design for more than 160 years. Its drawings collection is among the best in the world. The Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum offers visitors an overview of Dutch and European art, from the early Middle Ages to the 21st century, from Bruegel’s Tower of Babel and Rembrandt’s Titus at his writing desk to Salvador Dali’s Mae West Lips Sofa. The world-class collection and spectacular temporary exhibits have won the Boijmans a place among the three best art galleries in the Netherlands. The museum was awarded the Dutch Museum Prize for 2010 on 16 November 2010.

 

 

Frog Table by Hella Jongerius (walnut wood and blue transparent enamel)

 

A platform for national and international design talent

The Boijmans van Beuningen Museum has the spotlight on design this autumn, with two large exhibitions, two smaller shows and a display of the museum’s design collection. There will be a number of presentations and other events devoted to current design trends in 2012. In fact, it is not too much to say that the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum is the Dutch platform for national and international design talent.

 

The autumn programme ‘Design at the Boijmans’ features 3 special exhibitions: a group show focusing on design proposals for a sustainable world, a survey of the design talent nominated for the prestigious Rotterdam Design Prize 2011 and a presentation of the work of the textile designer Frans Dijkmeijer. A hundred woven pieces by the American artist Sheila Hicks will also be on display during the same period. The museum will be presenting its new design collection and giving a series of presentations on the latest design trends in 2012.

 

 

Design collection

Dutch design features prominently in the displays of the permanent collection. A tour of the displays shows how styles and forms have developed over time. The design collection is constantly being expanded. For example, in 2009 the museum acquired a rare chair by J.J.P. Oud and in 2010 the Frog Table by Hella Jongerius (walnut wood and blue transparent enamel).

 

 

TOP DESIGN IN ROTTERDAM BOIJMANS VAN BEUNINGEN - Design Exhibitions

 

 

Sheila Hicks / Egelantiersstraat 2002. Cotton, paper, silk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Half Life Lamp, 2010 Joris Laarman Glass, cobalt, chrome

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Sheila Hicks - 26 November 2011 - 4 March 2012

This coming winter the museum will present a special installation of a hundred woven textile creations by the American artist Sheila Hicks (born 1934). Hicks has been training in the modernistic Bauhaus tradition since the 1960s and has developed a unique way of mixing autonomous art with the traditional craft of weaving. Hicks is known for her colourful and three-dimensional textile sculptures. She makes ’paintless paintings’, as well as architectural installations.

 

 

2. Exhibition New Energy in Design and Art 29.10.2011/26.02.2012

In this exhibtion the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum presents innovative experiments in the field of sustainable energy. The exhibtion includes machines by Gerrit van Bakel (1943-1984) and ‘The idea of a tree’ of Mischer and Traxler. Sustainable energy plays a central role in the designs of the Austrian duo. In ‘The idea of a tree’ they made a series of stools based on the energy of a single day of sunlight. The interplay between art and science often leads to stimulating solutions. The Half Life Lamp by Joris Laakman (1979) consists partly of living organic material and emits light without added energy.

 

The idea of a tree, Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler, 2008

Nuclear Dialogues, 2009. Zoe Papadopolou; Ceramic, glass, table, dinner set, uranium yellow glass, Geiger counter, cake.

Flypaper combined with robotic clock

 

 

René Magritte (Lessen 1898 - Brussels 1967). Not to be Reproduced, 1937, oil on canvas.
Wassily Kandinsky (Moscow 1866 - Neuilly-sur-Seine 1944). Lyric, 1911, oil on canvas.
Rembrandt van Rijn (Leiden 1606 - Amsterdam 1669). Titus at his Desk, 1655, oil on canvas.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder The Tower of Babel c. 1556, oil on panel.

The 2011 Rotterdam Design Prize - 26.11.2011 / 12.02.2012

The 2011 Rotterdam Design Prize has been organised by the Rotterdam Design Prize Foundation, Premsela - Dutch Platform for Design and Fashion and the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum. The scouting process has been different this year. Five designer scouts began their search for nominations: Sophie Krier, Aziz Bekkaoui, Matthijs van Dijk, Joost Grootens and the duo Ginette Blom & Jacqueline Moors. They have been asked to nominate 3 different designers or projects. Unlike previous editions, the designers will no longer submit their own work. The nominees will be announced on 26 November when the exhibition opens.

 

 

BOIJMANS VAN BEUNINGEN MUSEUM

THE COLLECTION ENRICHED

 

 

The Collection Enriched 16 April 2011 - April 2013

From Bosch to Goya, to Magritte: in the spring of 2011 the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum started showing its impressive collection of European painting in a totally new light. For a period of 3 years the collection will be enriched with more than 20 masterpieces on loan from collections in the Netherlands and abroad.

The Collection Enriched affords a unique opportunity to view the finest paintings from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Boijmans Van Beuningen is the only museum in the Netherlands whose collection offers a comprehensive overview of the wealth of European painting.

This extraordinary collection shows masterpieces by artists, from Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and Dürer, to Rubens, Rembrandt and Titian, but also Kandinsky.

 

Masterpieces on loan

For this display Boijmans Van Beuningen’s permanent collection has been augmented by a series of rarely shown masterpieces from other museums in the Netherlands. Several Flemish masterpieces are also being loaned by the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. One can also admire works by Tintoretto. The museum in Antwerp is even lending a portrait by Hans Memling.

 

Grand Tour

The display constitutes a grand tour through the history of European painting. The guest curator of the collection is Peter Hecht, professor of History of Art at Utrecht University.