Sailing, Skating, Smoking   Dutch Painting of the Golden Age   07.04. – 26.08.2018

Sailing, Skating, Smoking. Dutch Painting of the Golden Age

For decades this private collection has been hidden away – now the Bremen businessman Carl Schünemann has donated his sensational collection of Dutch paintings to the Kunsthalle Bremen. It is the most significant group of Old Master paintings that the Kunstverein in Bremen has received since its foundation almost 200 years ago. The 32 oil paintings will be on display for the first time from April: Still-lifes, landscapes, marine and genre paintings provide a comprehensive survey of Dutch painting of the seventeenth century.

The works reflect Dutch life and customs during the Golden Age. Landscapes with cows and windmills, dunes, ships and the churning North Sea illustrate the world of fishermen and farmers alongside the well-to-do merchant class. Their wealth originated from the global maritime trade, sustained by regional herring fishing, enabling them to afford exotic luxuries. Still-lifes of flowers with rare tulips, paintings depicting pipes and packets of tobacco and the crinkly silk dress of a young woman listening to her admirer serenading her on a lute all bear evidence of the nation’s affluence.
The collection includes works by famous painters such as Jan van Goyen, Salomon van Ruysdael, Aert van der Neer, Adriaen van Ostade and the female painter Rachel Ruysch. It complements the Kunsthalle Bremen’s collection of Netherlandish painting and fills in gaps, especially in the area of flower still-lifes and genre painting.

 


(Fig. above: Ambrosius Bosschaert II, Still-Life with Flowers, 1631 (Detail) | Fig. exhibition overview: Jeronimus Sweerts, Still-Life of Flowers and Parrot, 1626, both: Kunsthalle Bremen – Der Kunstverein in Bremen, photo: Marcus Meyer)

A catalogue was published to accompany the exhibition, written by Dorothee Hansen, with explanations of all paintings and provenance information and numerous comparative illustrations. (Schünemann Verlag, ca. 180 pages | price: 29 €, ISBN 978-3-96047-044-1)

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Coloring book on Dutch floral still lifes from the collection
Coloring book on Dutch floral still lifes from the collection