Podere Santa Pia, Holiday house in the south of Tuscany

Podere Santa Pia has a small collection of art and artists’ books, including drawings and etchings by Philippe Vandenberg and Hanns Schimansky. Some of them are on view in this room.
Philippe Vandenberg (1952–2009) was a Ghent-based painter, etcher and draughtsman whose work balances between tenderness and violence, between silence and storm. His oeuvre is intensely personal, often raw and confrontational, peppered with literary references, political reflection and existential struggle.
Vandenberg did not paint to please, but to say what could not be said. His canvases and drawings are battlefields of colour, line and language — with scratchy words such as Kill them all and dance or Il faut tuer les artistes, which are both indictment and self-examination.
He worked in series, rhythmically and obsessively, like a writer who tries to rewrite the same sentence over and over again until it is conclusive, but which can never really be. The artist always continues to renew himself.
It was only after his death that recognition for his oeuvre grew. A key moment in this recognition was the exhibition at Museum De Pont in 2012.


Bedroom 1
Philippe Vandenberg, Exil de peintre, 2003



Philippe Vandenberg, etchings for Exil de Peintre, Ergo Pers, 2004

Philippe Vandenberg was born in Ghent, Belgium, 1952. Philippe Vandenberg was represented by Hauser & Wirth (Zurich, London, New York, Los Angeles, and Havana). In 2003 Philippe Vandenberg created Exil de peintre, an artists’ book published byErgo Pers in a limited edition of 33 copies. Each book includes two volumes : the first volume with 53 etchings and an additional second volume with a suite of 11 etchings, signed and numbered by Philippe Vandenberg. Hanns Schimansky, (1949, Bitterfeld) lives and works in Berlin. Hanns Schimansky is represented by Galerie Inga Kondeyne (Berlin) and Galerie Jaeger Bucher (Paris) a.o. A selection of etchings from The Recital and La Recitation de l’oubli are on view in the centreal hall. The etching, used for the cover of both books was printed in a limited edition of five copies. Estate Philippe Vandenberg \| www.philippevandenberg.be Presentation of Exil de peintre in Caemersklooster, Ghent, Belgium, 2003 \| Installation view Presentation of Exil de peintre in Roger Raveelmuseum, Machelen (Belgium) \| Main d’œuvre \| 20 jaar Ergo Pers in het Roger Raveelmuseum\| Installation view 1 \| Installation view 2 Presentation of Exil de peintre in Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, 2015-2016 \| Main d’œuvre \| 20 jaar Ergo Pers in het Haags Gemeentemuseum \| Gemeentemuseum The Hague \| Installation view Artists' books and etchings \| Hanns Schimansky In 2009-2010 Ergo Pers published a double volume artists' book with John Ashbery, Franck André Jamme and etchings by Hanns Schimansky. The edition consists of two books: John Ashbery, The Recital, translated by Franck André Jamme and La Recitation de l’oubli \| Les gués, les passes, by Franck André Jamme and translated by John Ashbery. For both books Hanns Schimansky created a series of five etchings.