Museum van Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam is a large museum. I love that it shakes up my orientation easily and every single time I go. It has a U-shape, halls in different sizes and many, many rooms. And every time I think I know where I can find Dalí or Bruegel’s Tower of Babylon I find them some place else. But there are even more ways to get lost in this museum.
Take the Infinite Mirror Room by Yayoi Kusama. She created a room loaded with stuffed animals in red and white polka dots. The walls exist only of mirrors, so that these crazy figures and many of your own selves surround you until infinity indeed. It is a spectacular experience. Not only to be able to see yourself from every angle, but to see all of those you-s move. As if they have autonomy. This is another kind of surrealism after seeing Dalí. And then see if you can find back the door of this spook..
Only to stumble into the next room. Whereas most of the museum shows art from the Renaissance until the modernists, it also shows some contemporary pieces. Last time we found a room furbished with enormous objects made of wood, Styrofoam and mirrors. I love how these chunks transform space. Again we got caught in reflections.
Yayoi’s mirroring room is permanent, but the contemporary art rooms tend to vary once in a while. There is always something new to see. Not surprising if you know that the museum has a depot filled with over 70.000 objects.