Thursday, December 12, 2019

Gorcums Museum: Dreaming of Trees, 2019


Let's just call this a post that's been languishing in the wings since August 10, when we finally took the time to visit our Gorcum's Museum to see the Dromen van Bomen (Dreaming of Trees), before the exhibit closed on September 15.

Ever since Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, people have lived in awe and
 admiration for the tree.  Whether it is a solitary spruce, a giant forest or an immeasurable jungle,
we dream away with their shapes, colors or immense size.  Trees symbolize life itself.
They even remove CO₂ from the air and are thus indispensable allies in this time of climate change.

As exhibitions go, it wasn't big but it had several note-worthy entries that made it worth seeing, most of which are shown below:

These swamp trees are a tapestry wall hanging...

...which you can see better in these two details.
Can you find them in the tapestry?

If you're a fan of triptych wall groups, I bet you'd love this polyptych.
Of course, you'd need a wall big enough!

You could even have a pretend tree in the middle of your house, right?
At least you'd never have to water it.

Far away you'd never know this is another tapestry...

...but once you're up close and personal, you see it.

I wish I knew how big this setting of Photographs is, but, trust me, it's big.
My guess is that each photo is at least 5x7 inches, maybe even 8x10.
You'd need another huge wall to display it.

If you're more a touchy-feely kind of person,
here are some twigs for you.

It was hard to show the depth but they stood about 2 inches from the wall, casting the shadow.

In that same room with the twigs were hanging pieces at eye level in the middle.
This is one of them from the front and back.
If you can enlarge it, you'll see a guy up in the tree (reading a newspaper?)!

See what I mean about eye level?

But this one took the cake, though a bit higher than eye level.

I wanted to look down on it to see it better, but you get the point.

Actually, on this tile, you DO look down on it, though a different scene.

At the end of the exhibit, I found this very large painting quite appealing because of the colors.

This was done by the same artist, I assume.

Now for two wall hangings that were, yes, you guessed it, videos in the frame (how did they do that?):


How about this as a way for trees to lose their leaves in Autumn!


And a time-lapsed video of an evergreen...
framed and hanging on the wall!

It really was a lovely exhibition and worth the run-through on our annual museum card.
Now it's time to see the new exhibit, The Secret of the Master, before it ends on February 19!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Before leaving this post, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Dame Judi Dench's "My Passion for Trees," since we're on the subject.  If you want to be thoroughly inspired by and educated about trees, make sure you take the time to see this documentary one day, if you haven't already done so:


It also helps, of course, if you adore Judi Dench, which I do.
Because of her passion (and our Gorcums exhibition) I love trees now more than I ever did before!


10 comments:

  1. I will watch the documentary at the first opportunity. I love trees too. When I am among them, I have a sense of well being..

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    Replies
    1. You will LOVE the documentary, Marie...when you have time to see it!

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  2. AMAZING.

    Just finished watching My Passion for Trees. LOVE Judi Dench. THANKS so much for sharing this!

    I too love trees, but like you said…I REALLY love trees now!

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    Replies
    1. Oh, Robin. I am THRILLED that you watched this documentary!!!!!!!!!!! It's one of the reasons why we wanted to see this particular exhibition in our wee museum nearby, to see if we'd find anything new to love. We did, of course. Trees have so much to teach us!

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  3. I found this to be the most interesting of posts! Amazing!! I think this is my fave post by you, and I will come back later to watch Judy Dench :)
    Thank you for taking me on this trip!

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    Replies
    1. Most interesting, Elaine. One never knows what other people find as a fave post, so thank you for your comment. I highly recommend Judi Dench's commentary. You'll never think of trees in the same way again!

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  4. The movie with Judy Dench was a kind of eye-opener and that "they" are so advanteged with technology that we can "show" what trees can do. They are the lungs of our world and we should take better care of them.
    Amazing that such a "small city" (37.000 inhabitants) have such a wonderful museum and that we are the lucky ones that live "around the corner".... A wonderful post and I am glad you were able to put in the video with Judy Dench.

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    Replies
    1. That movie really WAS an eye-opener, Astrid. I want to watch it again! Thank you for helping me figure out how to post it here, so that it's always at our fingertips. Now it's time to go see the next exhibition at our museum. We really are lucky that it's right around the corner!

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  5. I immediately thought of the Judi Dench doc film when I began reading, and I need to see it. It's not on our streaming channels, but maybe on YouTube.

    It's cool to see trees through all these different artists' creations. Wow.

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    1. You can even click on this YouTube here, Ruth, to see the entire documentary...or have it take you to the URL for you to stream from there. It's totally worth it. Please let me know if/when you do see it. And yes, it's very cool to see the tree renditions of other artists.

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