It is the largest acquisition by Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in decades, andit is ‘a key piece’ in the museum’s extensive and qualitatively solidcollection of surrealists: the painting Peinture-poème (Musique, Seine,Michel, Bataille et moi) (1927) by the Spanish painter Joan Miró willofficially belong to the collection of the Rotterdam museum from Thursday,which has been closed for renovation and expansion for a few years.
Earlier this month, State Secretary Gunay Uslu of culture herself signed thefinancial contribution from the state that ultimately made the purchasepossible from the Museale Aankopen fund – the maximum state contribution fromthe Mondriaan fund was not sufficient. However, a significant part of thepurchase price of 8.1 million euros (8 million Swiss francs) was not raisedwith public money, but from private funds. The Rembrandt Association, inparticular, has supported the acquisition of this work from the start with aninitial pledge of 3 million euros and a later addition.
Also read this report: The Universe of Joan Miró
The museum has a collection of surrealist visual art, books and magazines thathave been among the best in Europe since the then chief curator of modern art,Renilde Hammacher, began collecting in the late 1970s. The museum had beenlooking for a so-called dream painting by Miró for a long time, because itsteered surrealism in the direction of more abstract work, says SandraKisters, head of collection and research. “People often think of thefigurative surrealism of dream symbolism, such as the works of Dalí andMagritte that evoke an alienating world. Miró represents the other branch, anabstract tendency.” This makes his work a bridge to painters such as Picabia,who went much further in abstract surrealism. “So it’s not alone; why a Miró,but why such a Miró. We would find his later work much less interesting.”
Circles in the water
The Surrealists, initially mainly a literary movement of ‘automatic writing’,wanted to circumvent rationality and thus allow the subconscious to speakdirectly. Which didn’t come naturally. Miró, for example, starved himself totemper his conscious mind. This work, peinture-poème , he made after a walkalong the Seine with, among others, the philosopher Bataille, where theylooked at the circles in the water of the river. Miró later wrote about it inhis diary. It produces a dark work, brown with red. “You see that in thesurrealist movement there is still discussion about what you see in thesubconscious,” says departing museum director Sjarel Ex. “When you close youreyes, dream, do you see pictures, or are you dealing with spheres or streamsof thought, or do you see something atmospheric? This painting offers theopening to see everything. You end up in a not very attractive muddy state atfirst, which is fantastic of course. It is a painting that challenges you, andthat does not immediately lie at your feet like a purring cat. That is oftenthe case with Dalí, you find it beautiful and after that it starts to wearout. Dalí is a bit of an early artist, to whom the taste develops, but Miró issomeone you think of when you meet him: Ho. This also exists.”
Outgoing director of the Rembrandt Association: ‘Liberals and culturalpolicy do not go together’
For a long time there was little hope that they would be able to acquire sucha work, says Ex, who will be stepping down as director on Friday. “They arerare, and many of the dream paintings have already found their finaldestination in collections or museums. After his retirement in 1978, formerdirector Coert Ebbinge Wubben said that the museum should have had a Miró, butthat it was too late, that it would never come again.” So, says Ex, “We werehereditary as a museum.” According to him, the surrealist collection is ofgreat importance for the entire collection of the museum. “We are also alwayslooking for the surreal tendencies in art. We often end up with choicesdictated by this squadron – surrealism is a concertmaster for us.”
Extremely transparent
A few years ago, the museum already tried to buy a painting from Miró’s dreamperiod, one of his blue works. But the museum eventually abandoned it, eventhough it was almost financially closed. “He had later painted a layer overit, which made it of lesser quality than this work. This is painted extremelytransparent, it was set up in one go. This makes it his direct translation ofthat subconscious period.”
The work was not sold at an auction late last year, Ex says. Museum BoijmansVan Beuningen then contacted the owner through Christie’s auction house. Thepainting was now on loan from the Swiss Kunst Museum Winterthur, and then cameto Rotterdam to view its condition and see how it fitted into the collection.
A large part of the visual works by the surrealists from the Europeanimportant collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is part of a travelingexhibition, which was previously shown in New Zealand and now hangs in MexicoCity. The exhibition will return home in mid-October, Kisters says, and willbe on display in one of the rooms of the Depot for a few months before itleaves again, this time to Denmark. Is the collection home in honor of theMiró’s purchase? “No, that’s a coincidence.”