Matisse by Ceciel Stoutjesdijk

The Stedelijk Museum is pleased to invite you to the special series of Gallery Talks given by the experts behind the exhibition The Oasis of Matisse, on view from March 27 to August 16, 2015. During the tours the speakers will discuss a selection of artworks on the basis of their own areas of expertise, research, or interest. This way, the Stedelijk Museum provides room for new and – above all – personal reflections on the paintings and drawings in the exhibition.

All the speakers are part of the team of curators of the Stedelijk Museum and are involved in the exhibition as researchers or co-curators: trainee curator Ceciel Stoutjesdijk specializes in modern art, assistant curator Suzanna Héman made a selection of the most beautiful prints and drawings from the museum collection for the exhibition, paper restorer Tessa Rietveld contributed to important reports on both the condition of the works in the collection and on the loans to the exhibition, and academic researcher Maurice Rummens is the expert on Matisse in the Stedelijk Museum and wrote for the catalogue.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION, THE OASIS OF MATISSE

The Oasis of Matisse is the largest exhibition devoted to Henri Matisse that has ever been put on in the Netherlands. Furthermore, with more than 100 works it is one of the largest exhibitions in the history of the Stedelijk. The French painter Henri Matisse (1869-1954) depicted (Eastern) nudes, fabrics, carpets, potted plants, and idyllic landscapes looking for the most perfect possible correspondence between color and form. The exhibition shows how throughout his life Matisse worked on creating a light, cheerful, and carefree atmosphere with minimal means: the Oasis of Matisse. 

MORE ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Ceciel Stoutjesdijk contributed to creating the exhibition The Oasis of Matisse as a trainee curator. For example, she carried out research in the Archives Matisse in Paris and was co-responsible for the layout of the exhibition galleries with works on paper. Stoutjesdijk did her bachelor’s degree in the history of art at the University of Leiden with a special interest in modern art and museum and exhibition issues. She has worked as a trainee curator at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam since February 2014 as part of a master’s degree for museum curators – a cooperative venture between the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and the Free University of Amsterdam (VU) – in which she specializes in museum issues, the creation of collections, and various museum models.