until Sunday May 30 2021

S.M.A.K.
T : +32 (0)9 240 76 01
Citadelpark
9000 Gent
Belgium

https://smak.be/en/exhibitions/la-collection-et-son-double

‘La Collection et son Double’ is the first opportunity to showcase a selection of artworks from the prestigious Matthys-Colle collection, which the museum co-administers.

The Matthys-Colle Collection is coming home to S.M.A.K., as it were. In 1957, Roger Matthys, together with Karel Geirlandt, was one of the founders of the Vereniging voor het Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst (V.M.H.K.), now the Friends of S.M.A.K. The V.M.H.K. strove for contemporary art’s public right to exist in our region and purchased artworks with a view to establishing an autonomous contemporary art museum. Under Matthys’ chairmanship of the V.M.H.K. (1974-79), the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst (M.H.K.), now S.M.A.K., was finally established in 1975.

Thanks to his vision and international connections, Matthys was hugely influential in shaping the V.M.H.K.’s collection. The parallels between the Matthys-Colle Collection and that of the V.M.H.K. are plain to see. It is striking, for example, that artists from the fields of minimalism and conceptual art are richly represented in both collections.

Over the next few years, S.M.A.K. will organise a series of research exhibitions and activities, with works from the Matthys-Colle Collection forming the point of departure each time. A first exhibition is planned for the autumn of 2021. It will focus on pop art, a movement that plays a prominent role in both the S.M.A.K. collection and the Matthys-Colle Collection.