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Exhibition “Jean Rets. An unexpected builder.”

23/04/2022 h 05/06/2022 F Add to the calendar 2022-04-23 2022-06-05 Europe/London Exhibition “Jean Rets. An unexpected builder.”

Jean Rets (1910-1998) patiently created a world of signs, shapes and colours that echoed his temperament and sensitivity. The exhibition at the Marthe Donas Museum presents a rich overview of the artist's pictorial work, linked to a dimension of unprecedented breadth in his work, that of integrations with the environment. The exhibition at the Marthe Donas Museum presents a rich overview of the artist's pictorial work, linked to an unprecedented dimension of his work, that of integrations into architecture and urban space. Jean Rets showed an early taste for purely plastic research. At the turn of the 1940s and 1950s, he found in the geometric non-figurative trend a mode of expression that suited his temperament. Over the years, Jean Rets constantly enriched and extended his repertoire of plastic signs, which he mixed into inventive compositions. These compositions, at first abundant, are gradually stripped down, while a nuanced palette of colours emerges.

Photo: geometric composition, n.d., gouache on cardboard, 63 x 50 cm, Verhulst Collection, © Marco Lavand'homme

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 Marthe Donas Museum (MIMDo), Rue de la Montagne, 36 1460 Ittre Marthe Donas Museum (MIMDo)

Jean Rets (1910-1998) patiently created a world of signs, shapes and colours that echoed his temperament and sensitivity. The exhibition at the Marthe Donas Museum presents a rich overview of the artist’s pictorial work, linked to a dimension of unprecedented breadth in his work, that of integrations with the environment.
The exhibition at the Marthe Donas Museum presents a rich overview of the artist’s pictorial work, linked to an unprecedented dimension of his work, that of integrations into architecture and urban space.
Jean Rets showed an early taste for purely plastic research. At the turn of the 1940s and 1950s, he found in the geometric non-figurative trend a mode of expression that suited his temperament. Over the years, Jean Rets constantly enriched and extended his repertoire of plastic signs, which he mixed into inventive compositions. These compositions, at first abundant, are gradually stripped down, while a nuanced palette of colours emerges.

Photo: geometric composition, n.d., gouache on cardboard, 63 x 50 cm, Verhulst Collection, © Marco Lavand’homme

Practical information

Marthe Donas Museum (MIMDo)

The MIMDo is located in the chapel of the Espace Bauthier and proposes to discover the artistic trail of Marthe Donas. Marthe Donas, artist and painter, is considered the first Belgian woman to paint abstractly.

The exhibition that is regularly renewed in the chapel / museum presents drawings and paintings (+ a biographical video) that go through the different periods and styles of her work.

Three times a year a temporary exhibition on one specific theme comes to enrich the collection and museum activities. Then also using the salons of the Maison Bauthier (which was the home of Marthe Donas), located just opposite the chapel.

The collection of the Marthe Donas Museum covers three important funds:

– Marthe Donas: about forty paintings and drawings that cover the entire career of the artist;

– Gullaume Vanden Borre: almost seventy works from the “Les Amis de Guillaume Vanden Borre VZW” and from Jacques Lacomblez;

– Pierre Caille: about forty pieces (paintings, etchings, drawings, images, etc.) from mainly the “Pierre Caille VZW” that illustrate the production of this versatile designer.

In addition to these three large series, the MIMDo has been able to increase its funds thanks to a large number of gifts that make it possible to develop two main axes: Belgian artists and works by Belgian and French designers from the XXth and XXIth centuries.

Museum accessible on Thursdays and Saturdays from 1 to 5 pm and on Sundays from 11 am to 5 pm.

Free admission to the Chapel / museum and € 5 during the temporary exhibitions.

Free admission every 1st Sunday of the month.
2 B

Practical information

Marthe Donas Museum (MIMDo)

Rue de la Montagne, 36
1460 Ittre
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