Best of Collection - Richness and wealth: Abundantia, the Gifts of the Earth | ENG

Hey! This exhibition, with paintings, drawings and prints, images from the museum's collection, shows all kinds of examples from all kinds of times about the subject of abundantia. Abundantia, Latin for fertility or abundance. And how extremely different that can be, you can immediately see in the first room. The painting by Hans Makart, in which Abundantia is central, is a kind of praise for the abundance, while this image by Paul McCarthy, from a number of years ago, is precisely the opposite. It is a representation of the criticism of the abundance, the criticism that the artist had of the consumer society of our time, in which only buying and consuming is allowed. And that is the opposite of Makart, in which the earth-shaking wealth and abundance is celebrated. And that already started with the Romans, the depiction of fertility, of abundance. Here we see an image of the Gordian Abundantia, the goddess of abundance, with her trademark, the horn of abundance. She has a big horn in her hands, and flowers and fruits come out of it. And that symbolizes the abundance, the wealth of the earth that man gets. In this room you see all kinds of paintings and prints and drawings about the subject of abundance. And to start with this wall, where you see all kinds of paintings hanging, with mainly fruit still lifes. And that fruit still life became very popular in art from the beginning of the 17th century. Especially in the Netherlands. Then you see that painters have a need to portray the wealth of the fruits of the earth together on a painting as a kind of still life. And then you usually don't see the reference to the Gordian Abundantia anymore, but it is all brought together in such a way and hoped that it should symbolize the wealth, the abundance. If you then go further on this side, then you see scenes around fruits and people. Or better said, a painting with two gods, the goddess Pomona. And she is seduced by Vertumnus. Vertumnus was a man, a god of the seasons. And he wanted to get along with Pomona so much that he dressed up as an old woman. He disguised himself. And he went to Pomona and said, well, that Vertumnus, that's a guy, he's great. Pomona, the goddess of fruit, also of the treetops, is presented here with all kinds of fruits. But you can also see very well in the way she is dressed and the way her breasts come out, that it is also about the fertility of man. So the coherence of eroticism and fruit can also be seen in the painting of that time. Another example next to this. No longer two gods, but two ordinary people. A shepherd boy, it seems. And a girl who is picking pomegranates together. The pomegranates burst open and are full of seeds. And they are all a symbol of fertility in themselves. You see here how that girl does not look at the fruits, but looks at the boy. Eroticism and fertility are very much present here. And also in the third painting, you can see that with a bit of goodwill. You can also see the fruits here. And the eroticism, in this case, very central. Unflowered, central. A painting that was made 10 years ago by a German artist, Anton Henning. We are walking to the great painting of Hans Makart, where the exhibition was built around. Hans Makart, Austrian painter, end of the 19th century. He was very famous in his time. He is called the Andy Warhol of his time. This is one of the most beautiful paintings he has painted. Painted around 1870 for a dining room. And what you see is a female figure in the middle with two children. And she reigns as a kind of old-fashioned goddess between figures that walk on her. One of the most beautiful parts is this fruit garden with all those fruits and flowers. And there are all kinds of animals on it. And here you see shells and all kinds of details. Corn cobs. You can imagine that such a beautiful, large painting hanging in a dining room, in a beautiful palace in Vienna, with candlelight and eating people, has made an enormous impression. Also because of the use of the color gold on the background, which was very innovative in his time. It was sent around the world, in the Netherlands, Germany, but also to the United States. It was a painting that became very famous.