Beauty is a line

Pablo Picasso, Josien Beltman

The line has so much expressiveness that a recognizable face, figure or object can be put on paper with a simple stroke of the pen. The line separates the essential from the secondary, strips it down, until only the essence of a form remains. Aided by our imagination, the line is thus the language of the artist in the 20th century. The artist who no longer copies the visible reality, but wants to show a reality that belongs to him or her. A reality full of its own sensitivities and deeper meaning. The Rijksmuseum Twenthe in Enschede and Kunstmuseum Pablo Picasso in Münster presented a double exhibition on the line in modern art from February to the end of May 2020. From graceful lines and classical contours by, among others, Picasso and Matisse (Enschede), to spontaneous shapes and geometric investigations by Cy Twombly and Gerhard Richter (Münster). Twin exhibitions: Rijksmuseum...