Window on Infinity - Room 02

Ensemble

A universal language


During his training at the Antwerp academy, Jef Verheyen’s greatest discovery is the ceramics class and it is there that he meets Dani Franque, his future spouse. Together they travel to the ceramic workshops in the Southern French village of Vallauris, where Pablo Picasso also had his workshop. There they become familiar with the age-old basic forms of this craft. In 1955 Verheyen and Franque open their own ceramics studio in Antwerp. Its walls are graced with pictures of their sources of inspiration: a photo of Picasso hangs among photos of pre-Columbian and tribal sculptures; Indonesian dancers hang next to the cave paintings of Lascaux.

In the mid-1950s Verheyen rediscovers his love of painting. The atlas of images on his studio wall reminds him of the mystical ‘primal function’ of art. As Verheyen puts it: ‘Everyone can “feel” painting, everyone speaks our language… or at least, everyone is a conveyor of its primal forms.’

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About M HKA / Mission Statement

The M HKA is a museum for contemporary art, film and visual culture in its widest sense. It is an open place of encounter for art, artists and the public. The M HKA aspires to play a leading role in Flanders and to extend its international profile by building upon Antwerp's avant-garde tradition. The M HKA bridges the relationship between artistic questions and wider societal issues, between the international and the regional, artists and public, tradition and innovation, reflection and presentation. Central here is the museum's collection with its ongoing acquisitions, as well as related areas of management and research.

About M HKA Ensembles

The M HKA Ensembles represent our first steps towards initiating the public to today's art-related digital landscape. With the help of these new media, our aim is to offer our artworks a better and fuller array of support for their presentation and public understanding.