Antwerp art: An initiative by Dutchman Harry Rutten, who donated his art collection containing mainly prints by Goya, Rops and Munch to a Belgian foundation, Museum De Reede (MDR) in Antwerp which is dedicated exclusively to graphic art.
MDR’s unique and ever-increasing collection does not only cover work by three masters of graphic art, Francisco Goya, Felicien Rops and Edvard Munch as the core of the collection, but also Kathe Kollwitz, Max Beckmann Jacob Toornvliet, Theophile Alexandre Steinlen are represented, next to some fifteen Belgian artists, among whom Rik Wouters, James Ensor, Eugeen Van Mieghem, Henri Evenepoel, Gustave Van de Woestyne, Hugo Claus and well-known Antwerp artist Fred Bervoets.
The museum is situated at Ernest Van Dijckkaai, next to Eugeen Van Mieghem Museum, right opposite “Het Steen”. Two storeys of the building, 500 square metres in all, are fitted out for the more than 300 works of art exhibited so that they stand out visually, and all technical requirements complied with to permit exhibiting throughout the year such delicate works on paper. Goya, Rops and Munch are each allotted their own room. A fourth room accommodates the other artists of the collection, unless they make way for a temporary exhibition.
From January 30 until 4 May, MDR presents its brand-new temporary exhibition ‘German Expressionists’, focusing on the graphic works of the German art group Brucke with works by Kirchner, Heckel, Nolde, Pechstein, Mueller and Schmidt-Rottluff.
The museum, situated on Ernest van Dijkkaai 7 in the historical centre of the city of Antwerp, finds itself in an apartment block named De Rede (anchorage). The building dates from 2000. It was designed by the Antwerps Architecten Atelier and replaced the office of a shipping company in charge of inland shipping along the Rhine and other large rivers.
About Museum De Reede
The name Museum De Reede is as much inspired by this historical background as by the name of the building complex. It is, whether by chance or not, a big sign of affinity to have a museum as a neighbour: the Eugeen Van Mieghem Museum, situated in Het Redershuis (The Ship Owner’s House), the headquarters of the Royal Belgian Shipping Association.
With the 16th and 17th centuries in mind, the era of the rise of international shipping in the Lowlands, we have chosen to use the spelling of the time, of the place where ships anchored to ready themselves for a journey generally full of adventure.
www.museum-dereede.com
Photo Museum De Reede, German expressionism
