Hull. Who knows that city? I only from hearsay. There's a boat going there, and by train you're there in just under 9 hours. For those of us with flying shame. And it is in Yorkshire, which we know from Monty Python. But beyond that? I have been wiser since Wednesday 27 March, thanks in part to a promotional party organised by Hull City Council at the Van Gogh Museum. Because Hull is Yorkshire, so David Hockney, so Van Gogh. And Hull has gained cultural self-awareness as the city in 2017 UK's capital of culture was.
What a pity that idea hasn't taken off here yet. What a missed opportunity on improved regional self-awareness. As I saw with the people from Hull during the private meeting at the Van Gogh Museum. Incidentally, Hull also went to the Van Gogh itself to offer itself as a sponsor. That doesn't happen often.
Useful
The city and its Yorkshire ommeland wants to get on the map with the Dutch and the rest of the world. After all, the Van Gogh expo is going global, which what better way to raise its profile as a region than by hitching a ride with such an exhibition. Smart. And useful for the home front too.
Much has been written about this overwhelmingly beautiful exhibition. All the reviews are right. This is an exhibition that makes you happy. Because you can look along with a painter who sees a miracle in every blade of grass, who understands that painting is different from photography and who, with all that love, also makes a link between Van Gogh's southern France and his own Yorkshire Wolds. In art, there are no boundaries. There is only different light there. But how beautifully there marries the gold of Provence with the English evergreens.
Whoever gets the chance to still be somewhere get a time slot should not hesitate.
English (UK) 
Nederlands 
Français 
