I have mentioned the event in several other articles, so you can guess I am enthusiastic about Beaufort on the Belgian coast.
Every 3 years, international artists are commissioned to create a sculpture on that year’s theme, with the sea and the coast in mind. In addition to new work, work from previous editions is also present at the event.
Sometimes we go to the Netherlands to visit family and friends, making it easy to have a detour and enjoy this great event.
When Tom and I are visiting the Netherlands, we always frequent different museums. The Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven is regularly on our list.
The museum houses modern art in the form of paintings, drawings, sculpture and video art. The building is fantastic on the inside. There are quite a few different exhibitions, both short-term and long-term, so there is always something that really appeals to us.
I have an important criticism that I will address in this article, but it has little impact on my feelings. It is a fantastic museum that is well worth a visit.
In 2023 sculptor Juan Muñoz would have turned 70. He died way too young, obviously, at the age of 48. Yet he leaves behind an impressive number of sculptures and drawings with enormous expressive power.
It is not entirely coincidental that Tom and I have seen much of his work in Spain. We are both fans!
To commemorate him, there were exhibitions of his work in various places in Spain in 2022/2023. Although the best-known of his works were on display in several of them, the exhibitions were very diverse, each with a different emphasis on a particular period.
In the last quarter of 1969, aged 16, I went to Art school to become a teacher in visual arts and crafts. At that time I did not read any national or international newspapers, my parents were subscribed to the local newspaper.
The turbulent 1968 and the artistic expressions of that time had passed me by completely unnoticed. The academy became a pressure cooker of historical insight and political awareness.
I was lucky that my art history and art appreciation teachers were very enthusiastic and were really good at transferring their enthusiasm to their students. Not just on visual artists in the 1960s of course, but on art history in general.
Most tourists visit Amsterdam or the Randstad region when they go to the Netherlands. There is nothing wrong with that because both the city and the area have a lot to show.
Personally, I don’t like crowds much myself, so when I still lived in the Netherlands I usually went to other parts of the country.
I have always found the Hoge Veluwe National Park and the Kröller-Müller Museum worth visiting. In every season, although we were longer inside the museum in the winter and spent more time outdoors in the summer.
Art sometimes has an elitist character. Artists are partly the cause of this – yes, guilty, me too at times *blushing* – by stating that the public does not understand our art and thus creating an unnecessary distance.
Self-proclaimed art lovers are partly the cause of this by being haughty and feeling they stand above the masses. While of course, everyone can enjoy art. And don’t worry: not all art needs to be understood or even liked.
In my (free) eBook “How to get the most out of a visit to the museum” I give tips to enjoy art, but museums usually require an entrance fee.
So how can you enjoy art for free?
In another article, I listed drawing and painting tools and materials. That is one way of classifying creative possibilities. Another way of identifying is by naming drawing and painting techniques and the style in which they are applied.
Techniques, materials, tools, and ways of using them are highly connected. Still, it makes sense to look at and organise them separately, because then we can work in a purposeful way. And we have handles for an artistic view of the work of others.
This summer I was able to rethink my criteria for reviewing ceramic art when Tom and I visited Villa Datris in France.
A themed exhibition is organized in this villa every year. To my great luck, the theme this year (2022) was ceramics. The ceramic art was grouped over 4 floors and there was also a lot of ceramic work to be seen in the garden.
Thanks to founder Danièle Kapel-Marcovici’s love for art and her altruism, the villa and its exhibition is free to enter from May to October each year. It’s a marvellous initiative and was an unexpected discovery for us.
When I still lived in the Netherlands, Insel Hombroich was a car journey of 1,5 hours from our house. I have visited the location often with friends and family and it was a favourite day out for my staff and me.
An average museum visit lasts between one and two hours. Visiting Insel Hombroich can easily take up a whole day. One of the reasons why it is perfect for a short getaway.
The area is a breathtaking landscape full of little buildings, beautiful vegetation, and most of all a lot of art in all disciplines and genres.