Mu.ZEE museum explores the pull of the sea in temporary new home
As part of a major three-year renovation, Ostend museums Mu.ZEE closed its main building in Romestraat in January. Over the weekend, parts of its collection moved to a temporary home: the Venetian Galleries on the seafront, where the museum will remain active until next February.
The new exhibition, It's Sunday at the Sea!, unfolds with a view of the North Sea and explores what the sea means to people. “The exhibition It's Sunday at Sea! is not only about what the sea looks like, but especially about what it means to people,” the museum says.
“The sea is relaxing and impressive. It can bring peace but also overwhelm. Artists sometimes show it as it is, in the open air. Other times they conjure it up from memory, in dream images or symbols. The sea encourages reflection and imagination.”
The show spans works from 1880 to today, offering a meditation on the sea as a place of contemplation and artistic inspiration. Featured artists include James Ensor, Léon Spilliaert and Lili Dujourie.
Running like a thread through the exhibition is Vers la mer (1899), a poem by Émile Verhaeren, a friend and admirer of Ensor. The poem inspired both the exhibition and Dujourie’s video installation Il fait dimanche sur la mer!, which shares its title with a line from the poem. Her work features seven screens, each showing the surf on a different day in motion.
Another highlight of the Venetian Galleries is a behind-the-scenes look at museum practice. In two rooms at the back, visitors can explore a functioning art depot featuring pieces like a recently acquired painting by Anna Boch. The space offers insight into how artworks are stored, prepared and maintained.
While the Romestraat building is closed, Mu.ZEE continues its programming through the Permekemuseum in Jabbeke and the Peiremuzee in Knokke-Heist, with additional collaborations in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Drogenbos and Koksijde.
#FlandersNewsService | Jean-Brusselmans's Onweder © PHOTO MU.ZEE
Related news
