Matisse to Malevich

Yesterday we went to the Hermitage in Amsterdam to finally visit the “Matisse to Malevich” exhibition. The collection of paintings originated with the famous Russian collectors Morozov and Shchukin and it is the first time this collection is displayed in The Netherlands. Fortunately, it wasn’t a very big exposition (about 75 paintings and I skip the ones I don’t like ;-)), because I always use an audioguide and it can be a very tiring process if you want to listen to all the information that comes with every painting ;-) I especially liked the story behind a painting called “The red room” by Matisse: Shchukin ordered the painting as “Harmony in blue” because that would fit nicely in his diningroom. Matisse decided red would give the painting a more stunning effect and overpainted the blue with red. The Russian bought it anyway. If I would pull off a trick like that on my work I’d get fired, artists get famous by such actions. Love that.

On the way to the museum I stumbled upon the house with the spectacular window. It’s a very extreme substitute for curtains, but it’s original and I appreciate it when people think ‘outside the box’. At the left the sun. We hadn’t seen that one for ages here. Below my favourite painting in the whole collection: “Dishes and fruit” (1901) by Matisse. The colourpalette..it’s gorgeous (and even more beautiful in real life).