Agenda

The exhibition (Rembrandt’s Orient. West Meets East in Dutch Art of the Seventeenth Century) examines how Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1609) and contemporary artists of the Dutch Golden Age reacted to the areas of Orient, the area of the Near, Middle and Far East that came to the fore through trade, travel and publications. The show is not limited to Rembrandt’s oeuvre. In addition to works by his colleagues and students, the presentation includes publications and other sources that illustrate the contemporary vision of the Orient. Placing Rembrandt’s work in this broader context reveals both the ways in which his take on the East was typical of his time and what set his perspective on its cultures apart from those of his contemporaries.

Marguerite Hersberger (1943) is a draughtswoman, painter and sculptress. She develops a sculptural work that is reduced to elementary structures. Questions about the relationship between light and space and the theme of transparency have occupied the artist since the beginning of her work. They are reflected in numerous projects at home and abroad. In the exhibition (Räumliche Transparanz) she shows sculptures and three-dimensional wall objects made of transparent acrylic glass, one of her favourite materials.

The focus of the presentation is on the groups “Pliagen” (Folding). In these works, which are made out of one sheet, spaces are created by applying transparent layers of paint on top of each other. These are taken apart by incisions and create new impressions of colour and space. She is not primarely concerned with the illusionistic, but with the optically perceptible space.

The Swiss artist Raphaël Imer (1976-1998) created an expressive work that he conceived of as a spiritual quest. He almost died at the age of sixteen after a tear in his oesophagus. This experience and the fragility of life gave him a new awareness. He started to paint. It is in Vancouver and then in Montreal that he attended the school of art and developed his style. The museum brings this artist who died too early to the attention of the public with an overview and background of his work.