During the cultural city festival Antwerp Baroque 2018. Rubens Inspires, the M HKA, the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, juxtaposes the spirit of the baroque masters with the vision of contemporary top artists. With the exhibition Sanguine/Bloedrood (Blood Red), curator Luc Tuymans aims to overwhelm the visitor by placing key works from the baroque of, among others, Francisco de Zurbarán and Caravaggio, in dialogue with works by classical contemporary masters, such as On Kawara and Edward Kienholz, as well as new works by contemporary stars such as Zhang Enli, Takashi Murakami, Michaël Borremans, Sigmar Polke and Tobias Rheberger. 

antwerpenbarok2018.be

Sanguine/Bloedrood. Luc Tuymans on Baroque

©Private collection, Courtesy Zeno X Gallery, photographer: Peter Cox
Magdalena (a painting needs a wall to object to), 1995
Painting , 200 x 100 cm
Oil on canvas

Marlene Dumas makes engaged portraits, infused with an oppressive unrest, and painted with a sometimes wild, hasty touch. It is no coincidence that precisely the work Magdalena will be shown in the exhibition, a dark and penetrating painting of a female figure turning around. It evokes associations with both disgust and resistance. The gesture conveyed by Marlene Dumas in this work expresses both a remarkable directness, but also an extreme reticence, which functions as a shield of sorts.

Text: Hans Willemse
Translations: Michael Meert