Axel and May Vervoordt believe in art’s intrinsic power to change lives and add perspectives to the past, present, and future. Their collection embodies this unique approach and includes more than 750 works, spanning geographies and periods and including pieces from archaeology to contemporary art. Their interests in questions about space, time, and concepts of the void form the basis of a collection that grew from an intuitive and untameable curiosity and genuine friendships with artists. ...

In this book, the author argues that atheism should deepen its roots. Atheism should not only present itself as a cognitive matter, the denial of the existence of god(s), and as a moral matter, the confirmation of freedom from religious rules, but should develop a sentimental-emotional dimension. Atheism should cultivate a cluster of basic human emotions: the experience of reality as both a creative and destructive process that remains fascinating, miraculous, and mysterious, notwithstanding ...

'Ik benijd de Japanners om die enorme helderheid die alle dingen bij hen hebben. Nooit is het saai en nooit lijkt het te veel in haast gemaakt. Hun werk is even gemakkelijk als ademhalen en zij maken een figuur in enkele trefzekere lijnen'

- Vincent van Gogh aan zijn broer Theo, september 1888

Vincent van Gogh kocht tijdens zijn verblijf in Parijs meer dan 600 Japanse kleurenhoutsneden. Japanse kunst was op dat moment een rage. Van Gogh wilde handeldrijven in deze populaire prenten, maar de ...

In de jaren 1909 tot 1914 ontwikkelde Fernand Léger zich tot een vooraanstaand kubist. Een belangrijke rol in die ontwikkeling speelde een serie schilderijen die hij in 1911-1912 maakte, de zogenaamde Fumées sur les toits (Rook boven de daken). Hij schilderde het uitzicht vanuit zijn atelier in Parijs, waar hij uitkeek over daken met daarboven rookpluimen. De combinatie van de zachte vormen van de rookwolken en de harde en hoekige massa’s van de architectuur greep hij aan om zich een weg ...

Firstly I remember the way Lucassen used to look at things, his eyes so indescribably still and attentive. The eyes of a painter looking at things in order to make them still. Painters look with intense patience so that they will not disregard even the smallest of things. They look that way at a painting for a long time while it is being made – until the work is finished. It is finished when the painter no longer knows how to continue.

But still he goes on looking and peering to see what th...

Crowned the “Prince of Painters” by Giorgio Vasari, Raphael (1483–1520) was one of the most popular artists of the Italian Renaissance. Famous for his serene and harmonious series of Madonnas and his work at the Vatican Palace, he was an extremely influential painter, both during and after his own lifetime. Raphael in Detail shows his masterpieces in unprecedented, large-format details. The art historian and specialist of the Italian Renaissance, Stefano Zuffi, takes the reader on a voy...

First published in hardcover in the United States of America in 2002 by Thames & Hudson Inc.