Category Archives: Stories

Modernism for the people at the Stedelijk Museum

Modernism for the people at the Stedelijk Museum

From May 18 to September 24, 2023, the Stedelijk Museum presents the exhibition “Very Modern

Source: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam · Image: Vincent van Gogh, “Outskirts of Paris, View from Montmartre”, 1887, collection Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, donation VVHK, 1949

The exhibition sheds new light on 19th- and early 20th-century modern artists and designers who wanted not only to work for the elite but to reach as many people as possible. Visual artists who felt that their gains from individual freedom had been paid for with a loss of direct involvement in society turned to ‘community art.’ Committed designers who were inspired by technological and social modernity were not only concerned with beauty, but also with the ‘true’ and the ‘good’.

Well-designed utensils are said to have a positive influence on people and their environment. A story about the connection between aesthetics and ethics, in which the interaction between European and extra-European art and design is also discussed.

The exhibition includes works by Vincent van Gogh, Victor Thonet, Jean-François Millet, Jozef Israëls, George Hendrik Breitner, Robertson, Valadon, Jan Toorop, William Morris, Berlage, Fernand Léger, Cassandre, Krull, Breuer and others, and objects from Morocco, Indonesia and Fiji, among others.

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