From 12 February, the Mauritshuis will present BIRDS – Curated by The Goldfinch & Simon Schama, an exhibition that focuses on our relationship with birds. We cannot imagine life without them. To us, birds are a symbol of freedom, beauty, love and spirituality, but they are also pets, hunting trophies and a source of food. The exhibition will explore these contrasting visions and reflect on how we relate to nature, through the prism of our relationship with these creatures, as Carel Fabritius’ The Goldfinch and British historian Simon Schama bring birds from around the world to the Mauritshuis.
Fly!
This colourful presentation will combine paintings, sculptures, natural history exhibits, audiovisual installations, fashion and contemporary art. Visitors will be invited to consider subjects like freedom, climate change and consumption. Why do we keep creatures that belong in the air in a cage? Perhaps it is because we are envious of their ability to do something we cannot: fly!
Domino sparrow
Work by famous artists including Da Vinci, Picasso, Matisse, Brancusi, Rembrandt, Holbein, Tracy Emin and Iris van Herpen will be shown alongside items such as the manuscript containing the first written words in Dutch: 'hebban olla vogala nestas’ ('all birds are already nesting'). For the very first time, the Mauritshuis will also host bird sounds and objects decorated with feathers (headdresses, hats, masks and fabulous fans). Finally, the exhibition will include the Domino Sparrow, the little bird that lost its life during the preparations for Domino Day in Leeuwarden in 2005.
Simon Schama
Carel Fabritius’ 1654 painting The Goldfinch, for decades one of the most popular exhibits at the Mauritshuis, and guest curator Simon Schama will invite birds from all four corners of the earth and all periods of history. Taking this iconic work as the starting point, the acclaimed British historian will explore how birds have come to symbolise a whole range of human emotions and beliefs in our art and culture. The museum invited Schama (b. 1945) as guest curator of the exhibition in connection with the publication of his new book Foreign Bodies.
Martine Gosselink: “The collaboration with Simon Schama on BIRDS, both the exhibition and the book, is a highlight in the history of the Mauritshuis and of my own career. Simon combines a sublime gift for writing with a keen eye which, combined with a wide-ranging love of birds and passionate concern for the state of the planet, enabled him to spot art’s most remarkable and colourful birds for this exhibition."
