ANTWERP.- An initiative by Dutchman Harry Rutten, who donated his art collection containing mainly prints by Goya, Rops and Munch to a Belgian foundation, Museum De Reede in Antwerp is dedicated exclusively to graphic art. Antwerp as a location for the new museum was a deliberate decision, not only because the city is an important centre of culture, it has also cherished an age-long tradition of graphic art, with worldfamous printers, such as Christoffel Plantin and Jan Moretus.

MDR’s unique and ever-increasing collection does not only cover work by three masters of graphic art, Francisco Goya, Félicien Rops and Edvard Munch as the core of the collection, also Jacob Toornvliet, Théophile Alexandre Steinlen and Käthe Kollwitz are represented, next to some fifteen Belgian artists, among whom Rik Wouters, Henri Evenepoel, Edgard Tytgat, Eugeen Van Mieghem, Walter Sauer, Gustave Van de Woestijne, Hugo Claus and well-known Antwerp artist Fred Bervoets.

The museum is situated at Ernest Van Dijckkaai, next to Eugeen Van Mieghem Museum, right opposite “Het Steen”. Two storeys of the building, 500 square metres in all, were stripped bare and fitted out for the more than 200 works of art exhibited to stand out visually, all technical requirements complied with.

Goya, Rops and Munch will each be allotted their own room. A fourth room will accommodate other artists of the collection, unless they make way for a temporary exhibition. At the invitation of the initiator Norwegian Ole Jørgen Ness will be the first artist upon whom the honour will be conferred next autumn. Fascinated by Rops’ work Ole Jørgen Ness will pay tribute to the 19th-century non-conformist with a monumental mural.