The impressionist Monet once said that he wanted to show what is between him and the subject. Then what is there? There is paint on canvas, which he uses to represent his perception of atmosphere and light. The subject, such as water lilies or a haystack, was increasingly pushed into the background by the representation of atmosphere and light. On the canvas, Monet analyzed the light into its infinite number of constituent colors with loose, sketchy strokes.
This is done in a masterful way The nets of Pourville, painted in 1882 on the Normandy coast. This painting, which exudes space and freedom, is special because Monet depicts what is between him and the subject in the paint and literally as an image. Between us, the viewer (including the viewer Monet) and the sea, he painted a transparent screen of fishing nets rising vertically from the water’s surface, parallel to the plane of the canvas.
The nets obscure the view of the turbulent, gray-green sea surface with small white foam caps and the blue evening sky with billowing gray-white clouds. The transparent layer makes it clear that this is not primarily an image of the sea, but an atmospheric, almost abstract impression of light and air. The paint itself attracts attention because the image, viewed up close, breaks down into many moving, abstract color keys and accents. The fishing boats on the horizon are nothing more than some dark gray streaks.
Around The nets of Pourville Zippora Elders, curator of the Van Abbemuseum, organized a new episode in the series Eye to eye. In this series, works of art from the past are linked to contemporary works of art, partly from our own collection. This is a nice formula for an exhibition, because works of art largely derive their meaning or expressiveness from the context in which they are placed. On the surface it seems Face to face with Monet to be about water, the coast and the color blue. But there is more to it. The group of works provides a very concise interpretation of the history of modern art.
Paint surface
Hanging next to Monet Monochrome blue, untitled (IKB 63) by Yves Klein from 1959. While Monet and other Impressionists paid more and more attention to the paint surface of the painting, this was taken to the extreme in Klein’s monochrome, blue paintings: the paint surface itself has become the subject. There is nothing to see here other than ultramarine blue, a chemical pigment that Klein mixed with a synthetic resin that he patented as IKB, International Klein Blue. He applied it directly to a wooden support with a roller. Not a stroke of paint is visible anymore and therefore there is no longer any personal expression. Klein wanted to make an impersonal kind of art.
This does not alter the fact that ultramarine did have a special, more spiritual meaning for him. This deep, immaterial color creates a sensation of floating and limitless spaciousness. That is why he did not want a frame around the painting and placed the panel slightly away from the wall, so that it is visually separated from it. The pure pigment is fragile, which is why Klein’s blue monochromes are unfortunately almost always displayed in Perspex boxes these days, which detracts greatly from the experience of the work as intended by Klein.
Visitors in the Van Abbe Museum view ‘Kolobrzeg, Poland, July 27, 1992’ by Rineke Dijkstra. On the right a painting by Zohra Opoku.
Visitor views ‘Mossel Tears’ by Tori Wrånes.
Photos Almicheal Fraay
The photo Kolobrzeg, Poland, July 27, 1992 by Rineke Dijkstra is a work in the well-known series of beach portraits that she made between 1992 and 1998, on beaches in the US, Europe and Ukraine. Two more photos from the series are exhibited in another room on the same floor in the Van Abbe. In Dijkstra’s work you see the legacy of the abstract, formal art of the sixties and seventies and of the zero movement, to which Yves Klein also belonged.
On the other hand, a beginning of a return to subject and ‘narrativity’ is visible here. The beach portraits all have an identical compositional design, with the subjects – children and young adults – standing at the high tide line and looking straight into the lens. The portraits are almost collage-like, with the figures sharply cropped against a backdrop of sea and sky. At the same time you become fascinated by the body language and the look in the eyes of these insecure young people, who do not pose or make an awkward attempt to do so.
Identity
Narrativity took off in art from the beginning of this century, with themes of identity, gender, autobiography and political and social issues. Zohra Opoku, of Ghanaian-German origin, incorporated into a blue-colored textile work (2022, in the series The Myths of Eternal Life) reflections on death, loss and eternity based on events in her personal life. She underwent surgery for breast cancer in Germany but was unable to return to her son in Ghana for a year due to the corona pandemic. Opoku incorporated his portrait photo and a photo of himself in paint, embroidery and screen printing, in conjunction with quotes from the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
‘Monochrome blue, untitled (IKB 63)’ by Yves Klein in the Van Abbe Museum.
‘Mossel Tears’ by Tori Wrånes.
Photos Almicheal Fraay
The relationship between subject and its materialization is precarious in a work of art. Too much emphasis on form can lead to a meaningless game. Too much story can just as easily lead to meaninglessness, but in the guise of an anecdote or illustration of a theme. The latter is the case with the Mussel Tears (2021-2025) by Norwegian artist Tori Wrånes, a wall sculpture with flat steel elements, filled with concrete in which mussel shells are pressed. Why these would be tears remains unclear and the layered meaning of the other works in the exhibition is missing here.
Face to face with Monet would have benefited from a little more background information. That does not alter the fact that this is a carefully curated, exemplary exhibition that invites concentrated viewing and experience.
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