He arrived in Paris in 1899 to find his girlfriend Guus, whom he married two years later, and made a name for himself at the Salon d'Automne in 1905 alongside Matisse, Derain and Vlaminck. With their brightly coloured palettes, they founded Fauvism. A renowned portraitist of the Parisian elite, he also painted cabaret scenes and Orientalist subjects after his trips to Egypt and Morocco. Still renowned for his parties where film stars, artists and politicians met, the woman remained his muse, her body a landscape and the young Brigitte Bardot his most famous model.
The exhibition closes with acrobats, provocative women, nightlife scenes and paintings from his early years in Rotterdam and Paris. Also on show: drawings, posters and photographs. Highly colourful.
"All Eyes on Kees van Dongen
From 18 September 2010 to 23 January 2011.
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Museumpark 18-20, Rotterdam.
Tel. +31 10 44 19 400.
Internet : www.boijmans.nl
