Closing Time

KSMKA - The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp has invited visual artist Jan Vanriet to design a grand itinerary through the galleries of the Old and the Modern Masters. For the Closing Time exhibition, Jan Vanriet, has selected around 175 works from his thematic series of the past twenty years. He presents these works in combination with 150 thematically or stylistically related pieces from the museum’s collection. Vanriet does not only confront his work with masterpieces permanently on display in the galleries, but also with never-displayed treasures from the reserve.

To make this exhibition possible, almost all of the halls of the museum were rearranged so most of the collection pieces on display are not shown in their usual location, but in a different room with different dimensions, proportions and lighting. The chronological order of the collection was abandoned and instead combined with pieces for thematic or stylistic reasons, on the basis of colour, motif and design. This way, the paintings enter into a dialogue, a mutually enhancing confrontation. It is up to the visitor to explore the relationships, affinities and tensions within the ensembles of paintings.

Closing Time is the final exhibition before the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) closes for renovation. 

Event starts April 24, 2010 and ends October 30, 2010