Garden II 1986

Eugene Brands, a Dutch artist, made this oil-on-canvas work titled "Garden II." The artwork is suggestive of an outside space but it does not offer a realistic perspective. It seems to hover between abstraction and figuration. Made by a member of the CoBrA group, it draws from the aesthetics of children's art, which in the post-war period became associated with spontaneity and freedom. As a movement CoBrA self-consciously rejected academic styles in favour of a new, experimental mode of expression. It’s interesting to consider how art institutions at the time, such as museums and galleries, grappled with the challenge of presenting and interpreting such works. Did they embrace the radical spirit of CoBrA or try to tame it? To understand this painting better, you could explore the history of the CoBrA movement and study how its members negotiated the art world of their time.