The exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler is devoted to the extensive oeuvre of Marlene Dumas, with its focus on the human body. Offering a unique review of her work from the 1970s up to the present, it is to date the most comprehensive European retrospective of this eminent South African artist now based in Amsterdam. In addition to her iconic paintings and drawings, the show features a selection of experimental collages from her early work as well as some of her most recent paintings. One of the things that distinguish the work of Marlene Dumas is her remarkable blend of immediacy and intimacy. She encounters human beings in her pictures without reservation, occasionally even in a provocative manner, sometimes with humor. She concedes autonomy to color but her eye and the image’s focus is always centered on the human figure. Her works impressively show what
