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Exhibition ‘Still life with bridle. Homage to Torrentius’ (Instituto Cervantes)
16 September 2021 @ 19:00 - 25 November 2021 @ 16:00
Free
Instituto Cervantes Utrecht is proud to invite you to the exhibition ‘Still Life with Bridle. Homage to Torrentius’, a project that presents twenty-five art works of the contemporary Spanish artist Lluis Ventós, including his impressive and unique tribute to a mysterious work by the 17th-century Dutch painter Torrentius.
With his paintings, Luis Ventós builds a connection that links Baroque realism to the abstraction of the avant-garde of the 20th century. The inspiration for Ventós’ work is Still life with breidel (1614), a painting by the enigmatic Dutch artist Johannes Simonsz van de Beeck (Amsterdam, 1589-1644), better known as Torrentius, currently exhibited in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Torrentius was a painter who dealt with provocative (even obscene) themes, which eventually earned him the enmity of the Dutch Church, besides costing him several years in prison – with exeption of a period during which he was hosted and supported by King Charles I of England. All his works were destroyed with the exception of Still Life with Bridle. The mystery surrounding the life and work of Torrentius proved to be a major attraction for Ventós, who shows a reinterpretation of the still life of the Dutch painter. This new interpretation introduces a certain schematization, probably the result of an abstraction that brings this theme closer to our time.
The exhibition will be freely open to the public from September 16 until November 25 at the Instituto Cervantes in Utrecht. On the day of the opening, at 19.00 the exhibition will be inaugurated with the presence of the artist. Afterwards, you will be able to watch the documentary Cold Case Torrentius (2016) with an introduction by Maarten de Kroon, director of the documentary.
