6 June 2008 – 5 October 2008

The Mirror of Secret Desires. Still Lifes from Five Centuries

For centuries, people have been fascinated by artists’ ability to create perfect illusions with painterly means, using just paint, brushwork and composition. The pleasure offered by these illusionistic images is sensuous and aesthetic as well as intellectual. They awaken within us the desire to ‘get to the bottom of them’, to find out how they were made and how the illusion works. We are attracted by the idea of being seduced by optical illusions and at the same time of deciphering them. Deception and revelation, visual pleasure and scepticism are characteristic features of viewing still lifes in particular. For this reason, art connoisseurs and collectors attach particular value to these works. Throughout the centuries, still lifes have been created in a wide variety of forms and styles. In this exhibition, still lifes from five centuries will be presented in surprising juxtapositions to create a stimulating visual dialogue, with works on show by Willem Heda, Abraham van Beyeren, Courbet, Menzel, Kokoschka, Renoir, Monet, Braque, Beckmann, Morandi, Picasso, Claes Oldenburg and Mona Hatoum, among others.

Address

Hamburger Kunsthalle
Glockengießerwall
20095 Hamburg
phone +49 40 428 13 12 00
http://www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de

Opening Hours

Tuesday-Sunday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m. - 9 p.m., closed on Monday.

Within 10 days
starting exhibitions
ending exhibitions