What's on at Europe's Museums
February 16, 2004
Spotlight on Baselitz's Work
Fine Arts Museum, Bern
The Fine Arts Museum in Bern, is featuring an exhibition on the entire collection of over 40 works of German artist Georg Baselitz. One of the most famous representatives of European post-war paintings, Baselitz is known for painting his motives upside-down. The title of the exhibition 'Upside down, boy you turn me on', which is taken from an eponymous song by Diana Ross, alludes to this fact. The exhibition will also focus on large-scale wood and lino cuts, a medium that played a major role within the artist's body of work.
The exhibition "Upside down, boy you turn me on " runs through June 20. Open Wednesday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Closed on Monday.
Designed to Lead
Museum of Applied Art, Berlin
The Museum for Applied Arts in Berlin is hosting an exhibition on works by Scandinavian designers during the past 50 years. Organized under the aegis of the Council of Ministers of Scandinavian countries, the exhibition aims to highlight the contribution of Scandinavian designers and the powerful resonance their works and ideas had on designers all over the world. The exhibition comprises some 250 works, of which 150 are absolutely contemporary and 100 are from the 20th century. The exhibition deals with the successes of Scandinavian design, but also opens discussion on the myths and clichés which have developed among critics and consumers over the years.
The exhibition "Scandinavian Design Beyond the Myth - Fifty Years of Design from Nordic Countries" runs through February 29. Tuesday to Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday closed.
Obelisk Shines on Berlin
New National Gallery, Berlin
In a unique exhibition at the New National Gallery in Berlin, the Museum of Modern Art in New York will show 200 masterpieces of the 20th-century from its collection. The encounter between artists driven out of Europe by the Nazi regime in Germany with young American painters produced the ‘School of New York’, which became highly important for the second half of the century. Barnett Newman’s ‘Broken Obelisk,’ which is part of the school, is currently gracing the New National Gallery in Berlin. The sculpture is the first of an exhibition of MoMA, which will start on Feb. 20. The 'Broken Obelisk,' modelled on the Egyptian obelisk, is a four-sided pyramid with a square base, which Newman dedicated to the assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King., Jr. in 1968.
The exhibition "MoMA in Berlin" opens on Feb 20 and runs through September 19. Open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday closed.
Discoveries and Rediscoveries
Louvre Museum, Paris
The exhibition recalls the research done on the French Primitives, which involved paintings on wood, illuminated manuscripts, drawings and stained-glass. Based on 20th-century archives, the exhibition attempts to show the contribution made by art history to the defining of artistic centers, and to establishing or revising the personality of certain painters, who, while claiming to have been influenced by experiments conducted in Italy and The Netherlands, succeeded in forging a powerfully original style.
The exhibition, titled "French Primitives - Discoveries and Rediscoveries," runs through May 17. Thursday to Sunday 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., Monday and Wednesday 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Tuesday closed.