In Munich Alte Pinakothek there are some of the greatest in the world painting collections of Peter Paul Rubens. Quite and ordinary genius and a very wise man. He was never an arrogant artist, always shown a respect and admiration towards others. I don't know whether he wondered if his art is the best in the world. I think I don't even have to know the answer: many people do that and we can't be mad at them because of that- it's very human.
In Munich, the Rubens' exhibition that was inspired by the other Masters's works is just closing. It's very beautiful. Thanks to the kindness of The Art Friends from Bawaria we will have the chance to show You some of the amazing works of PPR which he painted after seeing the Tycjan's works. And not only! It's a great thing!
There are not many fans of the Peter Paul Rubens' art who are aware that this creative and versatile Baroque Master left many copies of others great artists' works. Of course, those are not just ordinary reproductions in today's meaning of the word: on every work we can see Rubens own artistic contribution, on every canvaswe can notice how the Master understood the work, what was the most intriguing, with what he didn't indentify and what he eventually reproduced- or maybe what he created- completely his own way. Using today's definition of creation- we can safely say that the artistic soul of Rubens came into a specific dialogue with the art of other Artist, discussed with his spirit of what- in his opinion- was real on the canvas, and what wasn't- and why is that. Maybe that is why today we talk about Rubens' paintings like they were classic "reinterpretations"?
In Munich Alte Pinakothek we had a chance to see a particularly much of that dialogue of Peter Paul Rubens with the great Italian asrtist, Tiziano Vecellio. Among others there were presented two popular paradise scenes: Adam and Eve, both of them are located in the chives of Madrid Prado. The original one, Tycjan's, comes from 1550, and the Rubens' – from 1628/29. I wonder, how do Yoi see them now, in 2010? Which one of them is closer to Your taste, which Eve and which Adam? Did, in Your opinion, Rubens make just a simple copy of the wonderful Tycjan's work, or maybe he changed them with a thousand of his own and brave ideas?
There is also another magnificent couple: Tycjan's ‘Young woman in white’ from 1555, at present in collection of Staatliche Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden- and Rubens' ‘Woman with a fan’ , 70 years younger than the first one, today in collection of Viennese Gemäldegalerie, Kunsthistorisches Museum.
After Tycjan, Peter Paul Rubens also painted in about 1636 his ‘Venus cult’ and- right after that- excellent and promiscuous- ‘Andrians’.
But in Munich we could also see Rubens' reinterpretations of others great painters ffrom XVI century: Girolam Francesco Maria Mazzola, called Parmigianino (Cupid with a bow, 1614, collection of Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen in Munich), Jan Cornelius Vermeyen (portrait of Mulay Ahmada, the Prince of Tunisiai, 1613/1614 rok, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston), or Willem Key – Portrait of a young man in a black hat, ca 1625, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen.
And my dear Friends, the exhibition is over. But in beautiful Munich there is still so much of the Great Artist, Pieter Pauwel Rubens. We invite You to the Alte Pinakothek- and also to our Labyrinth.
