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| Piet Ouborg, Luisterend in beweging 1948, oil on canvas, 60 x 90,5 cm |
I visited the Cobra Museum (close to Amsterdam) on Sunday. It was such a treat to visit a museum and see some powerful paintings. I learned quite a bit about the revolutionary CoBrA avante-garde movement started by artists from 'Co'penhagen, 'Br'ussels, and 'A'msterdam, active from 1949-51. The movement marked a conscious break from traditional art in the Netherlands and hence was rather influential. I love their free use of form and color, and especially their borrowing from Paul Klee--who has always been rather a favorite of mine.
Also, it was very helpful to see some paintings in person instead of just online. When you see a painting in person, you can move close and away, be more aware of texture, and scale. Personally I realized how differently everyone uses texture, and that some people can push texture to an emotional plane. Strange I just wrote 'people' and not 'artists.' In fact, somewhere, in a brochure or a museum writeup, one of the Cobra artists had been quoted saying something like, "We have to get everyone painting. Everyone is a painter, whether they know it or not..." I realized the group was quite revolutionary when I read that! It made me smile too (I imagined breaking into a bank/ military base, holding everyone on gunpoint, demanding they each paint a painting right then and there. A guerrilla art class.)
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| Lucebert, Spanish dance, 1961, oil on canvas, 100 x 150 cm |
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| Constant, Two Birds, 1949 oil on canvas, 82 x 63 cm |
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| Egill Jacobsen, Rød maske, 1943 oil on canvas, 85 x 65 cm |
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