SikkensFoundation

Projects

ERASMUS EXHIBITION — MUSEUM BOIJMANS VAN BEUNINGEN, ROTTERDAM 2008 — Five hundred years after Erasmus wrote one of the most infuential books in history with his In Praise of Folly, the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum presented a large- scale Erasmus exhibition. Making a great exception, the Louvre loaned the sublime portrait by Hans Holbein de Jonge. Art works which were seen for the first time in the Netherlands came from New york, London, Madrid and other world cities. The paintings, drawings, prints and ob- jects gave an insight into Erasmus’s ideas and revealed his infuences on art and society. Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (1466-1536) was fa- mous throughout Europe in his own lifetime. This exhibiti- on collected together portraits of Erasmus by the best ar- tists of his time: Quinten Massys, Hans Holbein de Jonge and Albrecht Dürer. Letters and documents showed that Erasmus kept a tight control over the way in which he was depicted. The exhibition also devoted attention to subjects which were important to him: scholarship and education, war and peace, church and art. The design of the exhibition was the result of the special collaboration between the graphic designer Tessa van der Waals and the artist Krijn de Koning, who won the Sikkens Prize in 2007. The exhibition architecture was sponsored by the Sikkens Foundation. Back to index Download text as pdf