In
February 2012 the BAM, Beaux Arts Mons (Mons Fine Arts museum) was
closed due to renovation. After some sort of facelift, the museum re-opened on
October 5, 2013 with a bang.
To celebrate the reopening, the town of Mons
organized an exceptional event. The first in the series of major exhibitions in Mons was an
international scale, devoted to the American artist, Andy Warhol.
I'm not an art aficionado, but seriously.. Andy
Warhol exhibition, in Mons. It’s a big deal!
I was exposed to his works when studying media and advertising in the university. The iconic pieces of pop
art, the Campbell’s soup cans. The technique, his way of working and the changes he
brought about in the art world made him one of the greatest artists of
the 20th century and an emblem of American culture in the 1960-70s.
A week after the reopening of BAM, I got an invitation for a guided visit,
sponsored by the Tourism Office.
“Life, Death and Beauty” creates an image of
different aspects of the life of Andy Warhol. In this exhibition produced by
The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, curated by Gianni Mercurio, we can
discover hundreds of original works, including those which rarely seen in
Europe and the classics, with portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Jackie
Kennedy and the self-portraits of the artist himself. What makes the originality
of the exhibition was in a whole section devoted to spirituality and religion,
with his interpretation of The Last Supper.
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| © Visual Collection of The Andy Warhol Museum Pittsburgh-SABAM 2013 |
Not only we can see still artworks, there’s also video
interview, an interactive section, a workshop space, also a "popmaton"
a kind of photo booth that transforms the photo taken into pop art.
*Until
the last day on January 19, 2014, this exhibition has brought nearly 85,000 visitors
from all over Belgium and France.