Evelyne Axell to take part in the first European Pop Art exhibition in the Netherlands!
From September 8, 2012 till January 6, 2013, Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen
Pop Art in Europa
From 8 September, the Valkhof Museum in Nijmegen is going back to the 60s. Back to the heyday of Pop Art. European Pop Art, to be precise. More than 100 works of art are coming to Nijmegen from all over Europe, which together will give a complete picture of the Pop Art movement in Europe. For a period of only 4 months the ‘Pop Art in Europe’ exhibition, unique in the Netherlands and Europe, can be admired in the Valkhof Museum. Four major works from Evelyne Axell, including her masterpiece “Le joli mois de mai” will be shown during this exhibition.
Pop Art is an accessible art form because it is very recognisable and understandable. It reflects the spirit of the sixties: passionate, exciting, colourful, playful and critical. Popular mass culture, with its appealing advertising and seductive images of luxury and wealth, is central to Pop Art. Everyday reality turned out to be a fertile source of inspiration.
The idealistic sixties have now acquired their own legendary status. The time is ripe for a wide audience to get acquainted with the art of David Hockney, Richard Hamilton, Peter Blake, Gerhard Richter, Martial Raysse, Jean Tinguely, Niki de Saint Phalle and many others. They were the pioneers of European Pop Art!
For the first time in the Netherlands
The ‘Pop Art in Europe’ exhibition is unique in the Netherlands in the way it has been designed and realised. Never before have so many Pop Art works from Western Europe come together in one place. There are also works on display which have never been seen before in the Netherlands. Works are on loan from various international museums, including the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum in Madrid and the Lodz Museum in Poland. The museum has also received prominent works from private collections and art dealers in Europe.
Eight themes
The exhibition is divided into eight themes: ‘Pleasure, Wealth and Leisure Time’, ‘The Space Age – Space Travel’, ‘Politics’, ‘Icons’, ‘Icons – Divas’, ‘Arrangements – Showcase’, ‘A Mirror of Life’ and finally ‘Anonymous Reality’. The themes are characteristic of the developments and events in the 60s. Besides all the appealing works of art, other disciplines such as film, music and design will also be on display because it is precisely in Pop Art that the visual arts and other expressions of culture have influenced each other in several ways. This has created a many-sided image of Pop Art in Europe, which has given the inspired sixties a face of its own.
Design
Due to the large number of works of art on display, the rooms allocated to house the permanent collection of modern art are also being used for the exhibition. Eight rooms have been made available for the exhibition with a total area of approximately 1000 m2. The exhibition space was designed by Swip Stolk, a designer and expert with a great deal of experience in the field of Pop Art and the sixties. He also designed the richly illustrated publication which is on display as part of the exhibition. This publication is published by WBooks. There is also an audio tour to explain the works of art which also provides information on the historical background of the exhibition and its connections with today. In the exhibition, a documentary film about Pop Art in Europe will be shown, made by the filmmaker Els Dinnissen.
Kelfkensbos 59
6511 TB Nijmegen
024 360 88 05
024 360 86 56
