From 17 June to 24 September, Museum Belvédère will present the exhbition Giorgio Morandi and the Netherlands, a follow-up to the successful exhibition Giorgio Morandi and Bologna in 2018. The exhbition is organized as part of the ‘Buitenkans’ (Great Opportunity) campaign, a new initiative of the Rembrandt Association and the Turing Foundation.
Giorgio Morandi and Bologna, the most successful exhibition put together so far by the museum, consisted mainly of paintings from foreign museums. Following the donation of one of the masterpieces from Morandi’s oeuvre by a Dutch collector, Museum Belvédère decided, exactly 5 years later, to create a special epilogue: a presentation of Morandi’s works from Dutch museum collections. In a room in the west wing, the museum displays paintings by the Italian still life painter from various Dutch collections, including loans from the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, Fondation Custodia in Paris and two private individuals.
Museum Belvédère is a fitting place for telling the story of Morandi and the Netherlands; the museum’s focus is mainly on visual art in which stillness is a crucial aspect. And in this art, according to connoisseurs, Morandi was the grand master. In addition, Morandi is a favourite painter of many artists represented in the permanent collection.Works by Dutch artists who were inspired by Morandi will therefore be displayed in another room, including Willem Minderman, Ed Dukkers, Willem van Althuis, Agnes van Gelder, Jet van Oosten, Ada Duker and Christiaan Kuitwaard.
The importance of sharing: the ‘Great Opportunity’ action
The presentation is organized in the context of ‘Great Opportunity’, an initiative by the Rembrandt Association and the Turing Foundation. This campaign aims to show that the Netherlands Collection contains a wealth of riches and that this collection gains in significance if museums share those riches with each other. Earlier this year, thanks to this campaign, Rembrandt’s painting Titus at the Lectern was shown for three months on the exact spot where it was made more than 350 years ago.
A richly illustrated book will be published to accompany the exhibition Giorgio Morandi and the Netherlands.