The Singing Statue | MSK Gent
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The Singing Statue, ca. 1928

  • oil paint, canvas
  • 147 x 115.5 cm
  • Inv. 1957-A

Public Domain

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The Singing Statue by Frits Van den Berghe is clearly influenced by Max Ernst’s ‘écriture automatique’. In 1927 Ernst exhibited his work at Le Centaure and a year later at L’Epoque. These galleries in Brussels also regularly exhibited Frits Van den Berghe’s work. Here he almost certainly encountered Max Ernst’s surrealistic material effects. The strange hollow-eyed figure in The Singing Statue probably refers to The Happy Prince, a fairytale by Oscar Wilde. The statue of the prince, once so happy but now dead, observes the misery of his people. Overcome with pity the prince calls on a swallow for help in distributing his riches among the poor. The bird pecks out the precious jewels that serve as the statue’s eyes and removes the gold that covers it, layer by layer. Although the statue has become unsightly it sings joyfully of the prosperity it has brought to its people.

Artist

Frits Van den Berghe RKD VIAF Wikidata
Ghent 1883 - Ghent 1939
painters (artists)AAT

Title The Singing Statue
Date ca. 1928
Period 20th century
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings signatures (names) bottom right: FVDBerghe
Collection paintings AAT
Object type oil paintings (visual works) AAT
Inventory number 1957-A
Acquisition credit purchase
Servranckx-Turcksin, Angelina
Jette (Brussels)
1957
Current whereabouts Work on display
Permalink https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1957-A
IIIF Manifest https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/2450/manifest.json
Art & Architecture Thesaurus 300189808 figures (representations) AAT
300056485 fantastic art AAT
300055865 symbolism (artistic concept) AAT
Keywords Iconclass 25F3 birds Iconclass
25F9 mis-shapen animals; monsters Iconclass
31A235 sitting figure Iconclass
31A2352 sitting on an elevation Iconclass
31A42 human beings (legendary or not) of abnormal proportions, size, strength, etc. Iconclass
31B6233 mouth wide open Iconclass
48(+373) art (+ singing) Iconclass
48C24 piece of sculpture, reproduction of a piece of sculpture Iconclass
48C755 vocal music, singing Iconclass
83(WILDE, The Happy Prince) (scenes from) specific works of literature (WILDE, The Happy Prince) Iconclass
School / Style Expressionist (style) AAT
Modernist AAT
Moderne Kunst in België : 1900-1945 / Robert Hoozee, Piet Boyens, Inge Henneman, Helke Lauwaert, Monique Tahon-Vanroose, Serge Goyens de Heusch, Ronny Gobyn. - Antwerpen : Mercatorfonds, 1992 (p. 305, nr. 359)
L' Art moderne en Belgique : 1900-1945 / Robert Hoozee, Piet Boyens, Inge Henneman, Helke Lauwaert, Monique Tahon-Vanroose, Serge Goyens de Heusch, Ronny Gobyn. - Anvers : Mercatorfonds, 1992
Frits Van den Berghe 1883-1939 : Met een volledig geïllustreerde kritische en gedocumenteerde catalogus van de schilderijen, gouaches, tekeningen en illustraties / Piet Boyens, Patrick Derom, Gilles Marquenie. - Antwerpen : Pandora, 1999 (p. 275-277, nr. 507)
200 jaar verzamelen : Collectieboek Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent / Arnout Balis, Robert Hoozee, Maximiliaan P.J. Martens, Paul Van Haute. - Gent : Ludion, 2000 (p. 266 (ill. 166))
Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : Catalogus schilderkunst ; Deel I: 14de - 18de eeuw ; Deel II: 19de - 20ste eeuw / Robert Hoozee, Johan De Smet, Bruno Fornari, Ruth Monteyne. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2007 (dl. II, p. 66-67 (ill.))
Het Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : een keuze uit de mooiste werken / Patrick De Rynck. - Gent : Ludion, 2007 (p. 123 (ill.))
Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : De collectie (tentoonstelling vanaf 21 maart 2021) / Johan De Smet, Bart Ooghe, Frederica Van Dam, Lieven Van Den Abeele, Cathérine Verleysen. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2021
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand : La Collection (exposition dès le 21 mars 2021) / Johan De Smet, Bart Ooghe, Frederica Van Dam, Lieven Van Den Abeele, Cathérine Verleysen. - Gand : Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand, 2021
onder vrienden : 225 jaar verzamelaars rond het Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent (tentoonstelling Gent, Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 25.11.2023 - 28.04.2024) / Johan De Smet, Frederica Van Dam, Willy Van der Gucht, Manfred Sellink. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2023 ; Gent : De Vrienden van het Museum, 2023 (p. 239, cat. 276 (ill.))
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