Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud

The last exhibition in the trilogy on love in the prints and drawings room focuses on the representation of strong women, in particular biblical heroines who specifically use their femininity. Through art history these representations are characterised by cunning, bravery, beauty, erotic tension and an interest in the relationship between the sexes, while female biblical wrongdoers are increasingly seen as femme fatales.

In the 17th century the Netherlands was one of the richest nations in the world, not only economically, but also culturally. At its peak, there were 700 painters producing about 70,000 paintings a year, which is why the era is still called the ‘Golden Age’. The prosperity and success of the young republic depended on its command of the oceans and inland waters. Its strong sense of identity as a seafaring nation also inspired artists. A new genre arose: marine painting.

The Pointillist work is now the centrepiece of the special exhibition ‘Bon Voyage, Signac!’ in Cologne, which includes about sixty works by renowned artists such as Monet, Manet, Caillebotte, Courbet, Gauguin, Cézanne van Gogh and Matisse. The Wallraf is introducing a new Signac with this Impressionist journey through its own collection.

DE Das Wallraf enthüllt die geheimen Tricks von Meistern wie Martini, Cranach, Rubens, Rembrandt, Friedrich, Manet und Monet. Dafür untersuchten Kunsttechnolog*innen des Museums in den letzten zwanzig Jahren Gemälde von prominenten Malern aus Spätmittelalter, Barock, Romantik, Realismus, Impressionismus und Symbolismus. Mit Röntgenstrahlen, Infrarot und Stereomikroskopen schauten die Expert*innen nicht nur auf die Malschicht, sondern auch in sie hinein und durch sie hindurch.