Exhibition Pure Rubens Boijmans van Beuningen

​

The oil sketches that Rubens made in preparation for his works are relatively small. Although he painted all these sketches himself, they are considerably smaller in scale than the final works they were used for. Confronting the sketches directly with the large paintings, which were made on the basis of the sketches, the difference in size quickly draws attention to the large works. However the goal was, that the oil sketches would receive the most attention in this exhibition. By using spatial resources, such as perspective and orientation, an attempt was made to reverse the hierarchy and place the sketches in the foreground. The design tries to relate to the classical architectural language of Palladio, Asplund and Siza. 

​

However, our main reference was the Cappella Rucellai by Leon Battista Alberti from 1467. This space contains an object that is fully in proportion to the walls, floor and ceiling. There is a sublime, classic coherence that is still extremely modern.

​

Project: Exhibition Pure Rubens
Client: Museum Boijmans van Beuningen
Location: Rotterdam
Status: Finished 2018
Team: Ard de Vries Architecten

Photos exhibition: Kim Zwarts

Photos model: Arie de Leeuw
Model: Concrete elements by Fluke Concrete