Before low-cost flights and Airbnb, travel existed. The urge to explore is as old as mankind, and for artists, physical journeying and creative exploration have long gone hand in hand. De Hallen Museum explores that relationship this year with its tenth summer series exhibition, Wanderlust – Dutch Artists’ Urge to Travel since 1850.
Back in the early seventeenth century, a trip to Italy was already considered an essential part of an artists’ training, while the Romantic period saw Dutch artists flocking to the Rhine Valley. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, the range of destinations increased dramatically: Louis Apol journeyed to the North Pole, Adriaan Gouwe travelled to Tahiti, and JCJ Vanderheyden photographed Mount Everest from the air… All without a Google Map in sight!
Wanderlust is timeless, and the exhibition at De Hallen brings things right up to date with works from contemporary artists including Joost Conijn, Jennifer Tee and newcomer to Colección SOLO, Jasper de Beijer.
Through painstakingly created scenes, 3D models and photographic images, de Beijer addresses the way modern-day society represents and interprets the past. Colección SOLO pieces, Waco and The Brazilian Suitcase Part I are fine examples, while the De Hallen exhibition will feature The Devil Drives (2005), inspired by the Victorian explorer Richard Burton and de Beijer’s own adventures in Africa.
Wanderlust – Dutch Artists’ Urge to Travel since 1850
De Hallen Haarlem
Until 11 September 2016