home
Art travels
Contact

Remember Me

Lost your password?

home
Art travels
Contact

Galleries

Recent Posts

Video reviews
Rain inside the Louvre, Abu Dhabi
Oscar Niemeyer in Lebanon
Petra is Alive!
Jessica Stockholder, Centraal Museum, Utrecht
Contemporary Art Museum Bucharest
Daniel Arsham, MoCo & Gallery Ron Mandos
Press preview Erwin Olaf, Photomuseum & Gemeentemuseum The Hague
Bernard Frize, Centre Pompidou, Paris
Rila monastery, Bulgaria
Erwin Olaf in Palm Springs, Florida

Archives

Archives

Categories

Categories

Instagram

artsayssimon

Says: ❤ Art! 🎨
🎬 Creative Industries reviewed
🎯 Let me inspire you 🇳🇱 & 🇬🇧

Visiting the opening of @boijmans in @rijksmuseum

Visiting the opening of @boijmans in @rijksmuseum with my artist friend @antoinettemhb

We are standing in front of the rainbow-rooftop artwork by @ugorondinone0 🌈 The title "Breathe. Walk. Die."

It reflects the profound cycle of life, from the first breath we take to the final moments we experience. It's a reminder of our journey and the impermanence of existence🙏🏻 #carpediem comes before #mementomori

These green mirrors, with a touch of Rotterdam charm, decorated us for the Infinity Mirror Room’s debut of #yayoikusama

The exhibition is on display until January 14 and shows a curated selection of 90 highlights from the with exhibition design by #irmaboom If you can’t wait another 7 years before the reopening of Boijmans, visit this one😅

#ugorondinone#rondinone#breathewalkdie#rondinone#boijmans#museumboijmansvanbeuningen#artreview

Cute Colourful works at the @rijksmuseum expo exhi

Cute Colourful works at the @rijksmuseum expo exhibition works from the @boijmans museum. Now open in Amsterdam till January 14✨🎨

❤️🖼️ My favourites:

#davidhockney “Two Deckchairs, Calvi” creates a serene atmosphere with a hint of hidden events. 🏖️🖌️ Not a single straight line, despite it first impression

#geertlap ‘s “Colour Triangle Consisting of 21 Bowls” embodies perfection and serenity in hand-turned stoneware 🍶🎨

“The Car” by #marisolescobar takes you on a road trip of freedom in 1964, reminding of life’s unpredictable journey🚗💫

“Corpo d’aria (Body of Air)” by #pieromanzoni challenges the desire to possess the artist’s breath through a balloon, stand, and box💨🎈

“Escuela Julio Mella” captured by #desireedolron in Havana introduces politics into the portraits of school children 📚🇨🇺What a fantastic photo

If you can’t wait till Boijmans will reopens. Do visit the Rijks and see 90 pieces in a fresh light blue setting 🖼️🎨

#painting #photography #installationart #ceramics #conceptualart #rijksmuseum #inclusiveart #artreview

Erwin Olaf🕊️Forever in my 🤍 In 2003, when

Erwin Olaf🕊️Forever in my 🤍

In 2003, when Erwin Olaf just finished the ceiling for the Dutch Embassy in Warsaw, me and @bnster010 met Erwin in a bar in Rotterdam. We knew his work already, but this was the first time we met him. We were intrigued by his life. And we all laughed together when we shared our life stories and future plans. From Erwin I learned the meaning of the word #freedom 🕊️🤍

From that moment on, we met each other with🥂 and Erwin called us the “Boys from Rotterdam”.

Now, 20 years later we have to say goodbye. My thoughts are for Kevin and Shirley😘🥲 @studioerwinolaf

🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️🕊️
Repost photo from the excellent 2019 exhibition in @kunstmuseum.nl

@artsayssimon 🙏🏿🙏🏻Sexy Activism in the Hague

The Palm Spring photo series of @studioerwinolaf premieres now in the Gemeente museum. My favorite work is this one: 🇺🇸American Dream, Portrait of Alex

#erwinolaf explores the relationship between a constructed dream world and reality. A white male kneels down. Just like the African-American quarterback #colinkaepernick who knelt during the national anthem in protest at police violence and discrimination. #imwithkap

Even without this story you would recognize his style; sexy and perfectly staged

Simon says: On show until May 12. Many new works worth looking at. Next to that you can find beautifully printed and carefully selected works of his oevre in both the @kunstmuseum.nl and the @fotomuseumdenhaag

Wonderful GRAW days💚 Studio visit of @geertmul

Wonderful GRAW days💚

Studio visit of @geertmul @ackersdijkstraat_20 with @leroyjoey at @grootrotterdamsatelierweekend 🟢

In front of Breaking Dawn Forever. Debuted in 2020 @art_rotterdam via @galerieronmandos 🌳💡Lightbox with slow changing led light

GRAW, or Groot Rotterdam Atelier Weekend, deserves credit for the superb mapping of Rotterdam's 109 sites and ~800 artists👏👏Thanks to @droomendaad for making this happen. If you haven't been able to visit all of them, check out the GRAW website to see all of the sites in Rotterdam for future visits

Every space we visited we met dedicated artists who loved to make art🥰So many former school buildings in Rotterdam are transformed to atelier spaces! I fell in love with Rotterdam again 🥰

#loverotterdam #rotterdamhotspots #rotterdamart #supportthearts #artrotterdam #lightbox #grootrotterdamsatelierweekend #artreview #artsayssimon

Wonderful #paperart discovery of @mujun_japan 🇯

Wonderful #paperart discovery of @mujun_japan 🇯🇵@monojapan_ams and shout out to the smiling 😄artist @shinyakobayashi_mujun 👹👺

He debutes in Europe with his OMG series and this work Mask-sama, 2023. It’s is a work inspired by two masks: a kagura mask used in the traditional kagura dance of the Iwami region in Shimane and a medical mask symbolizing the COVID-19 pandemic

In the world of kagura, masks are born from the delicate layering of Japanese #washipaper which is sourced by the team from the Mujun workshop. In this work, a medical mask, woven from non-woven fabric, is placed on top of it. ☺️I'm happy to see that the reference to corona is very discrete, enabling the aesthetics of the artwork to stand out✌️

@monojapan_ams is open today, this Sunday till 7pm at KNSM island @loods6

This week the exhibition: Loot - 10 Stories opens

This week the exhibition: Loot - 10 Stories opens @mauritshuis_museum and it left me with mixed feelings🔮

Standing with @demunnick in front of the horse head from Brandenburger Gate in Berlin, which was stolen by Napoleon in 1806 before it was returned in 1814

I 💜 the purple exhibition design by @trappedsuburbia and @studiospass for the graphic design. This design takes out all references of a museum, which was intended to do so. The looted objects were carefully selected and created 10 unique and uncomfortable stories, like the horse head

The looted objects can be divided into three moments in time, #colonialism #napoleon and the #ww2 lootings. However, the VR movies were a letdown🔻

Reviewing the VR Horse head experience: They were static, no added narrative or movement, just some birds flying over and napoleon in the background on a horse. It really is missing the golden opportunity to bring the theme of looted art to life

Simon Says: Four stars for the exhibition, one star for the VR. To the museum team; please join me and visit the @dutchdesignweek in October & the Immersive Tech Week @vrdaysfoundation in November in Rotterdam to learn what Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Simulated Reality ànd Extended Reality can do!✌️

#roofkunst #lootedart #mauritshuis #quadriga #colonialism #culturalheritage #arthistory #artreview
📷: the final image is a photo

Looted art @mauritshuis_museum 🔮Ten unique stor

Looted art @mauritshuis_museum 🔮Ten unique stories in Purple

The horse head from Brandenburger Gate in Berlin, was stolen by Napoleon in 1806, the Benin bronze replicas 20c, the Rembrandt Self-Portrait was stolen during ww2. They all tell the stories of #colonialism

#lootedart #cuturalheritage #arthistory #mauritshuis #quadriga beninbronze #rembrandt #purpledesign

Lovely afternoon visit this week. Here we are on t

Lovely afternoon visit this week. Here we are on the Empty Chairs by @maarten.baas in @museumvoorlinden with Margriet & @bnster010

Maarten Baas designed the Empty Chair in 2011 for @amnestynl 🪑 The Empty Chair symbolizes the vacant seat of Liu Xiaobo during the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 in Oslo. The Chinese dissident was unable to collect his award in person due to an 11-year prison sentence

Lui was a Chinese literary critic, human rights activist and philosopher. He passionately advocated for political reforms and campaigned against communist one-party rule in China. Despite his efforts, he faced numerous arrests, earning the titles of China's most prominent dissident and the country's most famous political prisoner. In June 2017, Liu was granted medical parole after being diagnosed with liver cancer, but sadly, he passed away a few weeks later..

The Empty Chair, standing at 5 meters tall, not only represents an unoccupied seat but also serves as a symbolic stairway to heaven 🕊️✨ and look up: one chairs literally goes through the roof of the museum🤩🪜 You can visit the show of Maarten Baas until September 24 in Museum Voorlinden

#emptychairsproject #peace #humanrights #amnestyinternational #liuxiaobo #maartenbaas #artsayssimon

Remember your loved ones😘 Empty chair by @maar

Remember your loved ones😘

Empty chair by @maarten.baas @museumvoorlinden

The chairs were originally made for @amnestynl to not forget those who stood up for freedom☺️

#liuxiaobo #emptychair #emptychairsproject #powerofart #museumvoorlinden #maartenbaaschair #maartenbaas #maartenbaasclay

Cheers to the Summer! ☀️ @waterkantamsterdam 📸 @bnster010

Real gold, fake marble & contemporary art like the

Real gold, fake marble & contemporary art like the gradient ceiling🤍🩵🤍 by #rudivandewint
@koninklijkeverzamelingen

#workfromhome palace of our King 👑 tickets via @koninklijkhuis

.

#paleisnoordeinde#noordeindepalace#willemalexander#werkpaleisvandekoning#koninklijkeverzamelingen#art#artlovers#thenetherlands#dutch#royal#king#queen#interiorphotography#palaces#dutchpalace#luxurylifestyle#architecture#fabulous#interiorinspiration#koning#royalinteriors#workfromhomejobs#palace#contemporaryart#artsayssimon

Royal Visit 👑 to the #workfromhome Palace Noord

Royal Visit 👑 to the #workfromhome Palace Noordeinde with @bnster010

Art via @koninklijkeverzamelingen like the fantastic gradient ceiling by #rudivanderwint

Once a year it’s doors are opened. Beautiful to visit the working palace of our King, spot the 🔥guards as well as the golden carriage at the stables. As of today, some tickets for the stables are available via @koninklijkhuis

.
#paleisnoordeinde#noordeindepalace#willemalexander#werkpaleisvandekoning#koninklijkeverzamelingen#interior#art#artlovers#thenetherlands#dutch#royal#king#queen#interiorphotography#palaces#dutchpalace#luxurylifestyle#architecture#fabulous#interiorinspiration#artsayssimon

Wheatfield under Thunderclouds 🌩️☔️💧 @

Wheatfield under Thunderclouds 🌩️☔️💧
@vangoghmuseum

It’s already August..You can see “His Final months”, THIS final month, up until September 3rd in Amsterdam. Tip, try to book your mandatory timeslot two weeks in advance

He painted Wheatfield under Thunderclouds 🌩️in 1890 shortly after a turbulent visit to Theo and Jo in Paris. In both this work and Wheatfield with Crows (the famous one) he emphatically tried to convey ‘sadness, extreme loneliness.’

In his final weeks he created some of his most renowned works, producing around 70 paintings in just 70 days. Especially the series of magisterial landscapes around Auvers in what for him was a new, elongated format of 50 centimetres by 1 metre. To me, in this series, this work is one of the most beautiful works he ever made❤️

Sadly, on July 27, 1890, Van Gogh died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, bringing an abrupt end to his extraordinary artistic career. Until September 3 you can see his works

#museumtok#vincentvangoghpainting#vangogh#vangoghart#vangoghpainting#landscapepainting#vincentvangogh

Do you see the glitch? 🫨⭕️ Watch closely

Do you see the glitch? 🫨⭕️

Watch closely when the artist @nickverstand crosses the circle: #howitsmade 💢

Tiny but beautiful expo #ekstatis until January 2024 @stedelijkmuseumschiedam with 40.000 laserdots per minute beaming 😎

#stedelijkmuseum #laserbeamz #laserlight #laserart #kineticart #lightart #sounddesign #nickverstand #janschoonhoven #heleenblanken #mariskadegroot

Where is everyone?? Silence reigns, broken only by

Where is everyone?? Silence reigns, broken only by the flutter of bat wings 🦇 🦇

Around me, ancient #hieroglyphs depict Horus ascending the eternal staircase, unique in Egypt! A place of mystic solitude. Blackened ceilings bear witness to countless candles and fires, making it feel evermore like a functioning temple

The stone ship inside Egyptian temples is called a Barque Shrine. These shrines symbolize the divine transportation or vessel of the gods, representing their ability to travel between the mortal world and the afterlife

#edfu #horustemple #blairwitchproject #egypt #egyptian_tik_tok #egyptiantemple

the Sistine Chapel of the ancient world is the Tem

the Sistine Chapel of the ancient world is the Temple of Khnum in Esna 🏛️ 🌈

Dance, celebrations, and cosmic tales spring to life on these age-old walls. If you visit Esna in 2024, even more is renovated 💚💛🧡❤️

📚:
The oldest remains of the temple date back to the New Kingdom, with some references to earlier structures from the Middle Kingdom. However, the existing temple mainly dates from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods around 40 BC to 250 AD.

The ancient Egyptian temple located on the west bank of the Nile in the city of Esna, about 55 km south of Luxor. The oldest remains of the temple date back to the New Kingdom, with some references to earlier structures from the Middle Kingdom. However, the existing temple mainly dates from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods around 40 BC to 250 AD. So it’s a young temple

#walklikeanegyptian #egyptianart #templeofkhnum #ptolemaic #temple #esna #sistinechapel #egyptology #khnum #ancienttemples #egyptianarchitecture #loveegypt #egyptiantemple #ptolemaic

Abu Simbel. Two temples, one for power, one for lo

Abu Simbel. Two temples, one for power, one for love

Situated on the banks of Lake Nasser, these inspiring temples are the legacy of the great Pharaoh Ramses II.

The temples are strategically located at the southern border of Ramesses II's kingdom, near modern Sudan. It took me and @velma010 a 4.5h drive through the desert 🏜️..to be able to see this gigantic reminder to the Nubians of the power and god-like status of this Pharaoh

The Great Temple, first photo, with the deified Ramses II standing alongside the gods Amun, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah, is a impressive piece of engineering. Swipe to see some interior shots

What truly touched my ❤️ is the second Temple of Hathor, a tribute to Ramses II's love for his #QueenNefertari. Their statues stand of equal height, a testament to their timeless love story. The selfie inside is again for the god of craftsmen and architects: Path

On another photo you see female figures. They do not represent Nefertari, but Hathor. They are representing a #sistrum which is a music instrument, a rattle. The handle of the sistrum can be quite ornate. Often, it is fashioned in the form of the face or figure of the goddess Hathor, the goddess of love, beauty, and music in ancient Egyptian mythology

The Abu Simbel temples were relocated in a massive UNESCO operation in the 1960s to save them from being submerged by the creation of Lake Nasser, due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam. The monuments were meticulously cut into large blocks, moved piece by piece, and then reassembled like a giant puzzle. They were elevated approximately 64 meters higher and 200 meters back from their original location. It's very nicely done.

Check the final photo, it shows the backside of the artificial hill where the Great temple has been built inside. That door was closed;)

3300 years ago, people where #androgynous too Thi

3300 years ago, people where #androgynous too

This is not Queen #Nefertiti from the #neuesmuseum in Berlin, but her androgynous husband #akhenaten in the #luxormuseum

Akhenaten is depicted with androgynous features. This break from conventional masculine representation in Egyptian art is what makes him stand out🫅His slender, curved body, high cheekbones, full lips, and almond-shaped eyes blur traditional gender lines in #ancientegyptianart 🔆This distinct aesthetic is a signature of the #AmarnaPeriod

👑 Note the beautiful crown, it represents the combined papyrus and lotus column designs, symbolizing the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt and his divine right to rule as a pharaoh

📚: He ruled as a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt for just 17 years and died around 1334 BC

Akhenaten is infamous for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing worship centered on the Aten, a disk of the sun 🌞 which is often viewed as a form of monotheism. He basically forced everyone to believe in just one god. And he even moved the capital abroad to a new city

Akhenaten’s reforms did not outlast his death ☠️ His son Tutankhamun returned to the traditional pantheon and moved the capital back to Thebes, nowadays Luxor. As a result, Akhenaten was nearly forgotten until the late 19th century when his city, Amarna, was discovered and excavated

#WalkLikeAnEgyptian ⚡️💙 Female power defin

#WalkLikeAnEgyptian ⚡️💙

Female power defines the Luxor's Temple of Pharaoh Hatshep, a New Kingdom architectural masterpiece, almost 3.500 years old!

Senenmut, the royal architect and her lover, broke norms by spreading the #HatshepsutTemple across terraces that match the cliff tiers, tying nature and architecture. The principles of symmetry, monumentality, and integration with the landscape, have influenced numerous modern architects. My first thoughts are Speer, Chipperfield, Kahn and maybe even Wright. Can you name more?

The temple's myth involves Queen Ahmose dreaming of Amun-Ra, who prophesied she'd birth 👶a pharaoh daughter, Hatshepsut. To assert her divine roots, Hatshepsut was said to be nursed🍼🐄 by goddess Hathor as a cow, linking her to the gods and cementing her legitimacy as a pharaoh. Swipe to the the hieroglyphs of this myth 🐄

Kindness on the streets in Egypt 🕊️🇪🇬

Kindness on the streets in Egypt 🕊️🇪🇬

The tradition of providing free water for the poor in ceramic vases on the streets of Egypt is known as "sabil kheir" or "sabil" for short. Sabil is an Arabic term that means "a source of goodness." These public water dispensers have been a part of Egyptian culture for centuries. On this picture you see a beautiful ceramic water dispenser⚱️⚱️ It was in front of a bakery for the poor, where pitabread🫓 could be bought for 0.3 euro cent a piece

📷2:
🕌 Islam arrived in Egypt during the 7th century CE, following the Islamic conquest of Egypt by the Arab army. Since then, Islam has become the predominant religion in the country. One of the most significant aspects of Islamic faith for Egyptians is the #Hajjpilgrimage to Mecca 🕋If you were fortunate enough to visit Mecca, you would paint the exterior of your home to reflect this accomplishment and raise your social status in the neighbourhood

#waterforlife #sdg6

Load More... Follow on Instagram

© 2023 Art! Says Simon