Vik Muniz: Verso
Press kit
Press Preview
Tuesday 7 June 2016
Mauritshuis
Elske Schreurs, Press & Publicity
[email protected]
+31 (0) 70 302 3438 / +31 (0) 6 27033093
Images for the exhibition can be downloaded from our website; please be sure to include the
accompanying credit lines: http://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/press/press-images/tentoonstellingen/
First Ever Exhibition of Contemporary Art at the Mauritshuis Museum
Presenting the Other Side of Masterpieces
The Mauritshuis in The Hague will reveal another side to its character in the summer of 2016. From 9 June to 4
September it will host an exhibition which reveals not the fronts of world famous paintings, like Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa,
Van Gogh’s Starry Night or Vermeer's The Girl with a Pearl Earring, but their backs. For this exhibition, celebrated
Brazilian artist Vik Muniz has created a total of five new works based on paintings in the Mauritshuis collection to
augment his existing Verso series. This will be the first exhibition of contemporary art In the history of the Mauritshuis.
Emilie Gordenker, Director of the Mauritshuis: “It’s a first: a museum exhibition of Vik Muniz’s Versos. It’s also a first for
the Mauritshuis: this show presents an exciting new spin on the museum’s collection through an extraordinary
partnership with a contemporary artist. I approached the internationally renowned Vik Muniz about doing a project for the
Mauritshuis for several reasons. He has a lively interest in Old Masters and in museum practice. At our very first
meeting, he surprised me by suggesting a project about the backs of paintings. His Versos force us to look at famous
paintings differently; we can often call them to mind, but we rarely think of them as objects that are installed in galleries,
moved, conserved and even carry labels and inscriptions. By stepping back from the familiar image, we gain a more
profound appreciation of the works themselves. I can’t tell you what a pleasure it has been to work with Vik and his team,
who have created amazing new works and taught us a great deal along the way.”
Versos
Vik Muniz began photographing the backs of famous paintings in 2002. In his book Reflex (2005) he expressed a desire
to make life-size prints of the photographs and exhibit them. His first, meticulous, 3D copies of the reverse sides were
made in 2008. He called them 'Versos', perfect imitations of the side that normally faces the wall.
For Vik Muniz, the back of every painting is unique; the holes, the metal brackets, the labels and all the other markings it
acquires tell the story of its past. As the years go by the back of a painting changes. New owners make their mark. The
latest processes leave an imprint. The back reveals the materials from which the painting is made - stretchers, canvas or
panel - and shows details of the frame and any other safety measure taken while it was on display. It is only ever seen
by the museum staff. And it is this, the more intimate side of a famous masterpiece, that Vik seeks to share with the
visitor.
In 2008 Vik Muniz organised his first Verso exhibition at the Sikkema, Jenkins & Co. gallery in New York. On that
occasion he presented the reverse sides of masterpieces such as Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (MoMA, New
York), Van Gogh's Starry Night (MoMA) and Renoir’s Woman with a Parrot (Guggenheim, New York). Though more
'Versos' were made in the following years, such as Da Vinci's La Gioconda (better known as the Mona Lisa) (Louvre,
Paris), they have never been exhibited as a group.
The placement of earlier 'Versos' alongside new works based on paintings from the Mauritshuis collection means that
the Mauritshuis becomes the first museum ever to exhibit a group of fifteen. It reveals the backs of Vermeer’s Girl with a
Pearl Earring and View of Delft, Carel Fabritius's The Goldfinch, Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp
and Frans Post's View of Itamaracà Island in Brazil. The latter is of particular interest, given Vik’s own Brazilian identity
and his association with Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen, the original owner of the Mauritshuis, who was governor of
Dutch Brazil from 1637 to 1644 and commissioned the painting by Post.
Exhibition
Title:
Vik Muniz: Verso
Date:
9 June - 4 September 2016
Biography
Vik Muniz
Born in 1961 in São Paulo.
Vik Muniz is a world-renowned artist who lives and works in New York and Rio de Janeiro. Vik’s works are included in
the collections of leading international museums such as: The J. Paul Getty Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, the Museu de Arte Moderna in
São Paulo, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Tate Modern in London.
Past exhibitions have taken place in museums such as The Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai; the Whitney Museum
of American Art; Museum of Modern Art, NY; Moscow House of Photography; Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro;
and the International Center of Photography, New York. A comprehensive retrospective of Vik’s work was exhibited in
the beginning of 2016 in The High Museum of Atlanta.
Vik Muniz began his career as a sculptor, but gradually shifted his interest to photographic representations of his work.
Vik creates imagery that is challenging, ironic and deceptive out of everyday materials like sugar, thread, diamonds,
chocolate syrup and garbage. In his 2010 film Waste Land, which won numerous awards, Vik returned to his native city
Rio de Janeiro to embark on an unusual collaboration with garbage pickers at the Jardim Gramacho landfill, the world's
largest garbage dump.
Besides his artistic activities, Vik is involved in educational and social projects in Brazil and the US. His social projects
did not go unnoticed: in 2011 Unesco nominated him Good Will Ambassador and in January 2013 he received the
prestigious Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum. In 2014 Vik Muniz started building ‘Escola Vidigal’, a school of
art and technology for low-income children from the Vidigal community in Rio de Janeiro.
Vikmuniz.net
Vik Muniz foto van Dillon De Waters
Moving between Reality and Illusion
Interview met Vik Muniz
The Mauritshuis’s exhibition space has been turned over to Brazilian artist Vik Muniz. He has filled the gallery with his
Versos, exact copies of the backs of famous paintings. What are the stories behind these works of art? Emilie Gordenker
talked to the artist in his studio in New York.
Emilie Gordenker (EG)
How did you start making Versos?
Vik Muniz (VM)
I have always been interested in the backs of things, but this project started exactly fifteen years ago, in the Spring of
2001. I was at the Guggenheim Museum with the Director at the time, Lisa Denison. At the Guggenheim, they were
renovating the Tannhauser Collection, and there for the first time I saw all paintings lined up with their fronts turned to
the wall. I saw all these massive pieces, but just the back of them. My favourite piece in that collection is the Ironing
Woman by Picasso. When I saw the back of it for the first time, I saw all the labels on it. Lisa allowed me to take a
picture of it, which I did with a 35 mm camera. I came back the next day and couldn't resist taking pictures of all the
paintings in the room. I got a lot of close-ups of every single part of them, and then made enlargements.
EG
If we go back to fifteen years ago, and now looking back, you've done quite a number of Versos since then. Did you
anticipate that it would become such a long-standing project?
VM
No. When I started, I didn't have any idea that I would be making objects. It all started with trying to have a really good
excuse to get to these works. So when I did a few from the Guggenheim collection, I remember talking to friends at the
Museum of Modern Art. And, surprisingly enough, they agreed that I could do a few pieces from the MoMA collection, as
long as there was a conservation team to accompany me. Obviously I thought first about the pieces of which they sell
most postcards. So it was Starry Night [Vincent van Gogh], Desmoiselles d'Avignon [Pablo Picasso], Red Studio [Henri
Matisse].
EG
You were making photographs, then.
VM
Yes. Sometimes you have to give your work a really hard look and admit 'this is not good'. They were just pictures of
pictures. They were interesting, but when someone looks at something and says 'It's interesting', it means that it's not
that interesting. I remember there were other people doing similar things, so it was nothing new either. I had to do
something else.
I had started as a sculptor before I began making pictures. I'm very keen on making three-dimensional things. The
pictures captured the spirit of the space, but they were in a way conceptually flat, so their meaning could be put into a
photograph. I realised that the dimension that the back of the painting has  the experience I had from being near them,
from their presence  could not fit inside a photograph. The whole dimension of the passage time that these objects
convey was lost in the photograph.
I had the crazy idea of making an object instead of a picture. But I did not have the skills to make one. To be honest with
you, I'm not as interested in making the object myself, as much as in creating an entire process. So I put a team together
of people who are extremely skilled. I called Barry [Frier], who is my framer, and a completely intense guy when it comes
to making something perfect. And then he got Tony Pinotti. We are a team of really crazy people. They are freaks! And I
am obsessed. It's like working with a Formula One team, and your mechanic wants to win as much as you do.
When we started making Versos, we ran into problems that could only be solved by the people who dealt with the backs
of paintings on a daily basis. So first we called the people from the Met, from MoMA, and then we started interfacing with
them directly. And it was like a little portal there; through the back of paintings, we could enter the world of museum
professionals. These people have a different concept of time. The painting is there like a clock on the wall, it fulfils a
function, it gives you information. Obviously, they're beautiful clocks that not only tell you the time, but make you think
about time. Curators and conservators are like clock makers, they're time keepers, the people who actually keep the
clocks telling the time, ringing when they're supposed to.
EG
What is the future for the Verso series?
VM
We have been doing this for fifteen years. I love doing this. If I didn't have a venue to show it, I would just keep on doing
it. But the greatest thing is that every time I work with a venue, and the piece goes on display there's also a relationship
with the place where we are working. I think it would be great to set up an itinerancy, like a circus show, which you take
from one venue to another. And every time you're in a new place, you establish a relationship with that particular
museum based on the most famous works on display.
Initially, I never thought of this project as a museum exhibition, but it makes perfect sense in this type of venue. I thought
of just the opportunity to make the works. I just wanted to make stuff. It is building up into an amazing exhibition. This is
beginning right here, and I think this can go very far.
We are so grateful for the chance to do this project at the Mauritshuis. It is the first museum show for these works. It's
the type of collection that would only take my works if I were dead. I am lucky enough to enter as a live person, while
most of the artists can only enter once they die. It's like a party in the cemetery! [big laugh and a dance]
The full interview is published in the Mauritshuis’ InFocus magazine, page 6- 12 and 14- 20.
Vik Muniz SAM StMoritz Art-Master 2012
Verso’s: the making off…
The making of a Verso begins with obtaining the permission and cooperation of the museum involved. This is no easy
procedure at the best of times, but through his persuasiveness and perseverance, Vik Muniz has managed to pull it off
so far. The Mona Lisa, for example, is only removed once every year from the glass cabinet where it is displayed. Vik
miraculously managed to make sure that he and his team were present on the same day in 2011, to be able to
photograph the back of the painting. One year later, when the painting was once again brought out of its cabinet for its
annual check, Vik Muniz’ team were allowed to display their version next to the original. Even the various assembled
experts couldn’t tell the Verso and the original apart.
Whereas usually Vik Muniz would approach the museum himself, the Mauritshuis actually contacted Vik with a view to a
collaboration. He impressed director Emilie Gordenker with his proposal to create a project about the reverse sides of
paintings. For the exhibition in the Mauritshuis, he decided to create five new works to add to the existing series of
Versos, based on paintings in the Mauritshuis collection: Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and View of Delft,
Carel Fabritius’ The Goldfinch, Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp and Frans Post’s View of
Itamaracá Island in Brazil.
Producing a Verso can best be described as an endless, almost obsessive, quest for perfection. It is an admirable
process, performed by Vik Muniz and his team of experts, with the two specialists Tony Pinotti and Barry Frier in
particular performing the main roles. This quest for perfection takes them all over the world in search of the right
materials. They experiment with recreating the ageing process on the canvas and labels. Handwriting is painstakingly
copied. Where necessary, frames are hand-cut from wood. Every scratch is faithfully reproduced. It all makes for a
wonderful story.
The team of Vik Muniz studies the reverse side of View of Delft at the Mauritshuis in The Hague
In July 2015, the making of the Mauritshuis Versos started off with a thorough measuring session of the original
paintings. Technical specialists, curators and restorers from the Mauritshuis studied the reverse side of the paintings and
shared their knowledge with each other. Although they were dealing with seventeenth century paintings, the reverse
sides revealed conservation techniques and materials from the seventeenth right up to the twenty-first century. All the
details were mapped out. Which materials and labels were used on the reverse side? Which period did they date from
and how would it be possible to reproduce them? Which hanging system was used? Which companies could provide
their expertise and which solutions would have to be made in-house?
The search for the right material presented a succession of
challenges for Vik’s team. For example, to reproduce the
panel of The Goldfinch, they found a sawmill in Pennsylvania,
where they searched plank by plank for the most similar
variety, using a wood pattern drawn onto transparent plastic.
The hardware for the Girl with a Pearl Earring en View of the
Island Itamaracà in Brazil didn’t go smoothly either. The name
of a Danish firm had been printed on the modern metal strips,
which are used to attach the stretcher to the frame. But when
the team attempted to order the strips with a stamp at the firm,
it turned out that it was no longer produced and there was no
more stock. The team were obliged to reproduce an iron
stamp themselves. The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp
presented an almost impossible task. In the nineteenth
century, the painting was fitted with a canvas layer which had
a unique herringbone pattern, in order to strengthen it. In order
to obtain the same canvas, the team made contact with Thistle
Hill Weavers in New York, who could weave a nineteenth
century-style canvas. The canvas was aged artificially by
applying a layer of colour.
Sealing wax and stamps with the letters WB for the Verso
after Frans Post, View of the Island of Itamaracà in
Brazil.
The complex production process plays an important role in the Vik Muniz: Verso exhibition. A special multimedia tour
(free of charge) provides an explanation for each exhibited Verso. Examples are presented in cabinets of proofs for
labels, reproduced (half) stamps and test samples of canvasses which were created to achieve the most authentic
ageing effect. Various GoPro videos are also being shown, which document the production of the Mauritshuis Versos.
Verso (Anatomy Lesson)
Artworks in the exhibition
Vik Muniz’ Verso
Original painting
(NOT EXHIBITED)
Vik Muniz, Verso (Anatomy
Lesson), 2016, mixed media,
205,5 x 258 cm
Rembrandt, The Anatomy
Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp,
1632, oil on canvas,
Mauritshuis, The Hague
Vik Muniz, Verso (The
Goldfinch), 2016, mixed
media, 84 x 70 cm
Carel Fabritius, The Goldfinch,
1654, oil on panel,
Mauritshuis, The Hague
Vik Muniz, Verso (View of
Delft), 2016, mixed media, 125
x 144 cm
Johannes Vermeer, View of
Delft, c.1660-1661, oil on
canvas, Mauritshuis, The
Hague
Vik Muniz, Verso (Girl with
Pearl Earring), 2016, mixed
media, 120 x 95,5 cm
Johannes Vermeer, Girl with a
Pearl Earring, c.1665, oil on
canvas, Mauritshuis, The
Hague
Vik Muniz, Verso (Illha de
Itamaracà), 2016, mixed
media, 82 x 108 cm
Frans Post, View of Itamaracà
Island in Brazil, 1637, oil on
canvas, Mauritshuis, The
Hague
Vik Muniz, Verso (La
Gioconda/Mona Lisa), 2012,
mixed media, 103 x 75 cm
Leonardo da Vinci, Portrait of
Lisa Gherardini, wife of
Francesco del Giocondo,
known as the Mona Lisa (La
Gioconda), c.1503-1519, oil on
panel, Musée du Louvre, Paris
Vik Muniz, Verso (A Sunday
on La Grande Jatte), 2008,
mixed media, 207.5 x 308 cm
Georges Seurat, A Sunday on
La Grande Jatte — 1884,
1884-1886, oil on canvas, The
Art Institute of Chicago,
Chicago
Vik Muniz, Verso (American
Gothic), 2008, mixed media,
78 x 65 cm
Grant Wood, American Gothic,
1930, oil on Beaver Board,
The Art Institute of Chicago,
Chicago
Vik Muniz, Verso (Les
Demoiselles D’Avignon), 2008,
mixed media, 244 x 234 cm
Pablo Picasso, Les
Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907,
oil on canvas, MoMA, New
York
Vik Muniz, Verso (Starry
Night), 2008, mixed media, 74
x 92 cm
Vincent van Gogh, Starry
Night, 1889, oil on canvas,
MoMA, New York
Vik Muniz, Verso (The Red
Studio), 2008, mixed media,
181 x 219 cm
Henri Matisse, The Red
Studio, 1911, oil on canvas,
MoMA, New York
Vik Muniz, Verso (The
Smokers), 2008, mixed media,
129 x 96.5 cm
Fernand Léger, The Smokers
(Les fumeurs), 1911-1912, oil
on canvas, Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum, New
York
Vik Muniz, Verso (Woman
With Parrot), 2008, mixed
media, 92 x 65 cm
Pierre-Auguste Renoir,
Woman with Parrot (La femme
à la perruche), 1871, oil on
canvas, Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum, New
York
Vik Muniz, Verso (Woman
Ironing), 2008, mixed media,
116 x 73 cm
Pablo Picasso, Woman Ironing
(La repasseuse), 1904, oil on
canvas, Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum, New
York
Vik Muniz, Verso (Lucretia),
2012, mixed media, 150 x 133
cm
Rembrandt, Lucretia, 1666, oil
on canvas, Minneapolis
Institute of Arts, Minneapolis
Activities during Exhibition
See also mauritshuis.nl
9 June
Maurits& Vik
Time and location: 6.00-8.30 pm, Mauritshuis, The Hague
Every second Thursday evening of the month, the Mauritshuis and NN Group organise Maurits&, a sparkling 'after work
event'. The exact format of Maurits& is determined every month by the Thursday Evening Director; a high-profile
individual with a special connection to the Mauritshuis. They are given the keys to the Mauritshuis for an evening and
introduce you to the Mauritshuis and our collection, each time from a different perspective: music, fashion, literature,
cocktails, philosophy. In the Foyer, our MauritshuisDJ will give a pre-weekend twist to the Thursday evening.
The first edition will be hosted by Vik Muniz on Thursday evening 9 June. Maurits& Vik will be a unique evening with a
Brazilian ambience. Next editions will be hosted by Splendid singer Pat Smith (14 July) and wine expert Harold
Hamersma (11 August).
14 June
Lecture on exhibition Vik Muniz: Verso
Time and location: 12.15-1.00 pm, Nassau Room, Mauritshuis, The Hague
Lecture by Curator/Director Emilie Gordenker.
15 June
Screening Waste Land
Time and location: 7.00 pm, Filmhuis, The Hague
Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in
Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de
Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Vik’s
initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as
they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores
as they begin to re-imagine their lives. Director Lucy Walker and co-directors João Jardim and Karen Harley have great
access to the entire process and, in the end, offer stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of
the human spirit. Waste Land (2010) was nominated for the Oscars and won the Sundance Audience Award for Best
Film.
Credits Exhibition
The exhibition has been made possible with the support of:
BankGiro Lottery
The Wijnand Goppel Bequest
The estate of H.W. Harten
And a private donor
Courtesy of:
Gallery Sikkema, Jenkis & Co., New York
Vivre Interieur Authentique, Nijmegen
Team Vik Muniz:
Vik Muniz
Erika Benincasa
Tony Pinotti
Barry Frier
Dillon Dewaters
Patricia Lopez Ramos
Design:
Studio OTW, Jelena Stefanović, Amsterdam
Construction:
VechtMetaal, Amsterdam
Paintwork:
Hoogstraten Haarzuilens, Vleuten
Lettering:
Riwi Collo Type, Amsterdam
English Translation:
Lynne Richards, Sussex
Practical information Mauritshuis
Contact Information
Address
: Mauritshuis, Plein 29, 2511 CS The Hague
Telephone
: +31 (0)70 302 3456
Website
: mauritshuis.nl
E-mail
: [email protected]
Opening hours
Monday
Tuesday through Sunday
Thursday
1 pm-6 pm
10 am-6 pm
10 am-8 pm
Admission
There is no surcharge to our regular admission prices for Vik Muniz: Verso.
Adults
Children (under the age of 19)
Friends of the Mauritshuis
Museum Card*, Rembrandt society, ICOM
€14
free
free
free
E-tickets are available via Mauritshuis.nl.
Exhibition room
Vik Muniz: Verso can be seen from 9 June through 4 September 2016 in the exhibition room on the first floor of our new
wing.
Photography
During the exhibition, it is possible to photograph without flash - just as in the rest of the Mauritshuis. Photography using
tripods or selfie sticks is not allowed.
Multimedia tour
A special multimedia tour (free of charge) provides an explanation for each exhibited Verso. The tour will be handed out
to visitors before they enter the exhibition room. The tour is also available as a download in the AppStore or GooglePlay.
Upcoming exhibitions
Mauritshuis
Masters of the Everyday: Dutch Artists in the Age of Vermeer
An exhibition from the British Royal Collection
29 September 2016 to 8 January 2017
A royal visit from Great Britain: in the autumn of 2016, the Mauritshuis will exhibit a
selection of seventeenth-century Dutch paintings from the British Royal Collection. The
selection contains representations of daily life as depicted by painters of the Dutch
Golden Age, and offers an exceptional chance to see over twenty masterpieces from
the Royal Collection, the largest loan to a Dutch museum to date. The Royal
Collection, held in trust by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, contains unique highlights
from the oeuvres of famous painters such as Gerard ter Borch, Pieter de Hooch,
Gabriel Metsu, and Jan Steen. The highlight of the exhibition is The Music Lesson by
Johannes Vermeer.
Johannes Vermeer, The Music
Lesson, ca 1662-1665
Royal Collection Trust / ©Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
2016.
Slow Food
Still Lifes of the Golden Age
9 March – 25 June 2017
In the spring of 2017, the Mauritshuis will be treating visitors to tasty scenes
and richly covered tables. The exhibition Slow Food: Still Lifes of the Golden
Age will present 25 food still lifes, which will document the development of
the early food still lifes in the Low Countries. The still life by the Flemish
painter Clara Peeters, acquired a few years ago by the Mauritshuis, will form
the key piece of the presentation. Her work anticipated the work of later
Haarlem masters including Pieter Claesz and Willem Heda, the most famous
proponents of the ‘breakfast’ genre. Other important painters in the exhibition
include Osias Beert, Jacob van Hulsdonck, Jacob Foppens van Es, Floris
van Dijck, Floris van Schooten and Nicolaes Gillis. The way in which these
genre specialists elaborated the details in their food still lifes is still
astonishing today.
Clara Peeters,
Stilleven met kazen, amandelen en
krakelingen, c. 1615, Mauritshuis, Den
Haag
Prince William V Gallery
Mantegna at the Gallery
13 October - 18 December 2016
This autumn, an exceptional masterpiece will once again be on display in the Prince
William V Gallery at the Buitenhof in The Hague. Following presentations of Caravaggio.
Titian and Velázquez, the renowned 15th-century Italian Renaissance painter Andréa
Mantegna, will be featured this year. The painting, Ecce homo, is a loan from the Musée
Jacquemart-André in Paris. The masterpiece will be presented from 13 October through
18 December 2016.
Andréa Mantegna (Isola di
Carturo, around 1431 Mantoue, 1506)
Ecce homo, Around 1500
Institut de France, Musée