gegen den Himmel. contre le ciel

In the organizer's words:

By 'essential' I mean everything that is absolutely necessary - that which cannot be left out - that determines the color structure: the energy that prevails in the colors. (Jef Verheyen)

The exhibition "gegen den Himmel. contre le ciel" is dedicated to the supposedly simple and self-evident such as light, color, space and their perception. For the first time, it brings together the monochrome paintings of Belgian artist Jef Verheyen (1932-1984) with the cross-media works of contemporary artist Johanna von Monkiewitsch (*1979 in Rome, lives in Cologne). The work of Jef Verheyen is closely linked to the exhibition and collection history of the Museum Morsbroich in the early 1960s and the international ZERO movement originating in the Rhineland. The dialog with the site-specific (light) works by Johanna von Monkiewitsch, which are often derived from incidental everyday situations, places Verheyen's work in a contemporary context.

From different backgrounds and approaches, both artistic approaches deal with questions of fleetingness, immateriality, energy and space and, in their consistent reduction to the essentials, undermine our widespread tendency towards more. What is needed and what can be left out? How can we bring out the essentials with as few means as possible? Can we give form to the fleeting and intangible? And how can emptiness be depicted in painting?

The exhibition "gegen den Himmel. contre le ciel" is being created in cooperation with the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) and the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA). It follows as a "spin-off" show on the exhibition Jef Verheyen. Window on Infinity (23.03.-18.08.2024, curated by Annelien De Troij and Adriaan Gonnissen) at the KMSKA together with the M HKA and in cooperation with the Jef Verheyen Archive.

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