L’Europe des esprits - the magic of the intangible from the Romantic to the Modern
Exposition in collaboration with the museum of modern and contemporary art, Strasbourg.
The magic of the intangible and supernatural has been an important subject in art for centuries. Witches, fairies and demons from popular belief and literature but also spiritistic practices such as table-moving and mysticism fascinated artists and audience in always new ways. The exhibition L’Europe des esprits – the magic of the intangible from the Romantic to the Modern sheds light on the significance of the spiritual, the esoteric and the occult on European art stretching over an extensive period. It begins at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century, at a time when the world of myths, spirits and demons, having been banned into darkness by the rationalism of the enlightenment, were enjoying a revival. As the 19th century progressed, interest in the occult and paranormal phenomena increased. With the help of new scientific methods such as the use of electromagnetic rays, some attempted to make these phenomena visible, while others were occupied with the religions of the world and in particular eastern religious beliefs. So the movement of the Theosophical Society, brought into existence in 1875, or Anthroposophy founded at the beginning of the 20th century by Rudolf Steiner, were both dedicated to finding a universal spiritual basis of being. Towards the end of the 19th century the symbolist artists were searching for a deeper spiritual truth behind the material appearance of objects and the means of depicting them artistically. At the start of the 20th century the artistic modernists attempted with their abstract tendencies to make an authoritative step in this development. And this also took place alongside a decisive rejection of the material world. Artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg or Johannes Itten were engrossed in the theosophical and esoteric theories of their time.
Opening
Friday, 30 March 2012, 18pm
Auditorium
Peter Fischer
Director Zentrum Paul Klee
Serge Fauchereau
Curator
Michael Baumgartner
Curator
Musical interludes: Bruno Kliegl, glass harmonica
Chr.W. Gluck, W.A. Mozart, L.v. Beethoven, F. Schubert, R. Schumann, A.N. Skrjabin, O. Messiaen
Blogger Reference Link http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Multi-Dimensional_Science
Auditorium
Peter Fischer
Director Zentrum Paul Klee
Serge Fauchereau
Curator
Michael Baumgartner
Curator
Musical interludes: Bruno Kliegl, glass harmonica
Chr.W. Gluck, W.A. Mozart, L.v. Beethoven, F. Schubert, R. Schumann, A.N. Skrjabin, O. Messiaen
Blogger Reference Link http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Multi-Dimensional_Science
