COWS - in art and at the Woerden cow market
Sunday October 3rd 2021 t/m Sunday May 15th 2022
From 3 October onwards cows in paintings and sculptures from the 17th century to the present will fill the museum.
The cow is in Woerdens DNA
Cows have traditionally been very important to Woerden and the region. On the wet soil, only grass will grow, arable farming is not an option. That is why the farmers mainly kept cows. In 1410, Woerden was granted market rights and cows were traded every year in October. Over the centuries, all kinds of entertainment was added to the market. At the beginning of the 21st century, the trade in cows was forced to be replaced by a cow show.
Cow in the Arts
In the museum, you can see the mooing ladies in all sorts of styles, times and movements. For example, in 17th-century cattle paintings and Italianate landscapes, but also in mythological scenes. There is work by the 17th-century livestock painter Paulus Potter, but also by Nicolaes Berchem and Karel Dujardin. The Hague School painters such as Willem Maris, Anton Mauve and Willem Roelofs are represented and, of course, the work of Woerden modernist Leo Gestel is not missing. The many interpretations show that cows are inextricably linked to Dutch culture. Contemporary artists such as Pieter Pander, Marleen Felius and Hans Versfelt show their contemporary view of these animals. In short: homage to the cow!
This exhibition is supported by Cultuur Platform Woerden, Stichting Vrienden van het Stadsmuseum, Mondriaan Fund, K.F. Hein Fund, V.S.B. Fund Woerden, Prince Bernhard Culture Fund and the Rabo Dichtbij Fund.
