Evert Thielen

Museum van Bommel van Dam shows Evert Thielen - De Luiken Open

In autumn 2024, Museum van Bommel van Dam will unpack a museum-filling exhibition of Venlo-born realist painter Evert Thielen, who is known (inter)nationally for his monumental polyptychs. The Venlo Art Museum is not only showing new and previously unseen works, but is also choosing a thematic approach that encourages visitors to see things through different eyes. The in-depth exhibition is being realised with the support of the municipality of Venlo and will be on display from 15 September 2024 to 23 February 2025.

Thematic approach
The oeuvre of Evert Thielen (Venlo, 1954) consists of realistic works with symbolic undertones inspired by the painting of earlier centuries and appeals to a wide range of people. In 2019, the Museum van Bommel van Dam, which was being renovated at the time, organised a small exhibition of Thielen's works on paper. Five years later, the museum is unpacking a large number of his characteristic polyptychs and paintings in the fully renovated building on the Keulsepoort in Venlo. By choosing a thematic approach, the exhibition will be of interest to both fans of Thielen's work and people who are not yet familiar with him.

Programme of the City of Culture
Parallel to the exhibition, the city of Venlo will organise a city-wide event in autumn 2024 together with the business community and cultural and social partners with all kinds of activities in the field of art and culture. This event will put art and culture in Venlo on the map together. The double exhibition by Evert Thielen in 2019 at the Limburgs Museum and the Museum van Bommel van Dam has created a lot of momentum and positive economic impact in Venlo. The municipal programme in combination with the expected exhibition should trigger the necessary economic and cultural effects for the entire municipality.

De Luiken Open
Evert Thielen often works on a large format. His famous polyptychs are monumental paintings consisting of several panels painted on both sides. With the title of the exhibition, Museum van Bommel van Dam shows Evert Thielen - De Luiken Open, the Museum van Bommel van Dam refers on the one hand to these polyptychs, which occupy a prominent place in the exhibition. The artist has almost completed one of these polyptychs since the double exhibition in 2019 and is being shown in this form for the first time. The museum also wants to explore the work on a deeper level. How can Thielen's paintings be dissected and interpreted? With a thematic approach, the art museum wants to try to understand and stimulate the deep connection that many people feel with the work. Indeed, his art exerts a particularly strong attraction on many.

Closer to the work and the artist
Previous exhibitions by Evert Thielen at the Cobra Museum (2002), Het Noordbrabants Museum (2005), Museum De Fundatie (2011) and the double exhibition at the Limburgs Museum and Museum van Bommel van Dam (2019) have attracted an overwhelming number of enthusiasts. Does this enthusiasm have to do with the artist's working method, which has its origins in the techniques of the old masters? Is it to do with the hyper-realistic style in which he works? Or are the sometimes very simple and personal, sometimes complex depictions also a window on our times? The Museum van Bommel van Dam explores these questions both in the exhibition and in the extensive education and outreach programme, in an attempt to bring the work and the artist closer to the visitor.
More information about the exhibition at the Van Bommel van Dam can be found on the website.

For more information about the Evert Thielen package, please click here.