Swiss exhibition showcases role of windows in art

Geneva: An exhibition at Switzerland`s Fondation de l`Hermitage in Lausanne showcases 150 works of art from the 15th century to the present day, analyzing the use of windows to frame landscapes in paintings, transforming a frame and marking the interior and exterior boundaries. The exhibition, "Windows, from the Renaissance to the Present. Dürer, Monet, Magritte...", features paintings, engravings, photographs and videos showing different uses for windows, depending on the era and the dominant artistic movement. "Windows are a fascinating element because they establish a relationship between the frame, understood as a window by some artists, and the windows become a fundamental theme in some works of art," Fondation de l`Hermitage director Sylvie Wuhrmann told reporters at the unveiling of the exhibition. The exhibition traces the role of windows in different works of art across 500 years of art history. One interesting point illustrated by the exhibition is that of the subject contemplating something happening in an interior space through a window, getting a look at how the occupants live. Works by "major artists, such as Dürer, Dou, Constable, Monet, Hammershøi, Munch, Delaunay, de Chirico, Mondrian, Jawlensky, Matisse, Duchamp, Vallotton, Ernst, Bonnard, Vuillard, Klee, Delvaux, Picasso, Balthus, Rothko (and) Scully, among many others", are featured, the foundation said in a statement. The exhibition, organized in association with the Museo Cantonale d`Arte and the Museo d`Arte of Lugano, runs from from Jan 25 to May 20. IANS / EFE