Dave Meijer / Giorgio Morandi

Giorgio Morandi

Natura Morta

1947-1948

oil on canvas

30,5 x 43 cm

Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam

The moment I first saw a small painting by Giorgio Morandi in Museum Boymans van Beuningen, many years ago, is unforgettable.

A small object but infinitely large: monumentality is in the first place presence. This has nothing to do with the dimensions. The paint is alive, but at the same time it is icy cool, frozen. Everything given, all energy is used up in the paint.

The complete naturalness of the whole as if it has always been there. Yet explicitly manufactured. Perfect unity of shape and counter shape, of foreground and background. Everything equally close and everything equally far away: all the same amount of mass. But also the momentary impression that, chiseled in paint, stops time. The now, on-going.

And then the subject. A few silly bottles and jars that, in a casual and very compelling way, turn the small into the grand. Shared intimacy. No show. No message. Everything is striking. Mercilessly honest. It is what it is. A world in and of paint.

Dave Meijer, 2019

Dave Meijer (NL)

01

Zonder titel

2018

oil on panel on canvas

35 x 26 cm
www.galerievandenberge.nl