The exhibition is the highlight of the anniversary year in which we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the international Cobra movement (1948 – 1951)!
Freedom without Borders shows Cobra art in relation to precursors, contemporaries and contemporary artists. Extraordinary, impressive and sometimes refined works of art show how the creative energy and freedom of the Cobra movement are still a source of inspiration for artists today. Placing the artworks next to or close to each other creates new connections and perspectives.
Cobra artists such as Appel, Constant, Alechinsky, Corneille, Jorn, Götz and Van der Gaag, are shown alongside precursors such as Van Gogh, Picasso, Beckmann, Schwitters, Klee, Miró and Munch. Also on show are works by contemporaries such as Pollock, Katzuo Shiraga, Dubuffet and Willem de Kooning, and successors such as Baselitz, A.R. Penck, Martha Jungwirth, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Tal R, Cecily Brown and Eva Räder.
The exhibition pays special attention to the work of a group of women artists, from Lotti van der Gaag, Ferdi, Jacqueline de Jong, Frieda Hunziker and Dora Tuynman to Judit Reigl, Cecily Brown and Tanja Ritterbex. Especially for those starting their practice in the 1950s and 1960s, opportunities to show their work were limited. In an art world dominated by male colleagues, it was not easy to break through as an artist or to be treated as an equal.