All eyes on Kees van Dongen

A world-class exhibition to match the extraordinary artistic verve of Kees van Dongen will be presented in autumn 2010.

All Eyes on Kees van Dongen will showcase some eighty masterpieces by the renowned painter Kees van Dongen. No fewer than sixty paintings and a selection of drawings, ceramics, posters and photographs are being flown over from leading international collections especially for the exhibition. They are coming from as far afield as New York, Monaco, Geneva and Moscow.

All Eyes on Kees van Dongen will present a wide-ranging view of this Dutch-born artist, who became world famous in Paris for his colourful portraits of women. Women with huge eyes, acrobats, nudes, women dressed in couture by the designer Paul Poiret and women Van Dongen painted during his trips to far-flung places. Van Dongen shared a studio with Pablo Picasso in Paris and immortalized his mistress as well as his own lovers and other close female friends. Sometimes Van Dongen painted men too, among them his father, the boxer Jack Johnson and several jazz artistes.

The exhibition includes paintings Van Dongen made during a trip to Rotterdam in 1907, among them the vivid 'Modjesko', works inspired by the Folies-Bergères and the most daring Parisian works, including the monumental nude of his wife Guus. Important, too, are the works he painted during and after his trips to Spain, Morocco and Egypt. These alluring, experimental portraits of women, with Oriental influences, intense colours and decorative accents, are among his best works. All Eyes on Kees van Dongen presents a unique opportunity to see the cream of the artist's masterpieces in one place.