Culture

A retrospective exhibition on Flemish painter Luc Tuymans is due to open today in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). Tuymans himself made the trip to the US west coast for the event. 'I've been doing these guided tours for 20 years,' the artist said. 'Another six years or so of this bullshit and then I'll have had enough. Then I'll have an office in Antwerp that will arrange everything for me, and by then so much will be written about me and my work that the audience will have books of information,' he said, seemingly temporarily fed up with promoting his exhibitions. Tuymans points out that his work has been exhibited in American museums for years and that his work is bought by the 'type of American who goes to the work by helicopter'. But Americans put his popularity into perspective. Art critic Sidra Stitch says that he might be well-known in the American art world, but she fears the same cannot be said beyond that. The exhibition has been arranged chronologically using a range of works created between 1978 and 2008. All his major works are on display - from early works on the Holocaust to the series on the Congo and his paintings in the wake of 9/11. During the guided tour he tells the audience about Flemish nationalism and Belgium's colonial past. The artist concludes with a vague outline of what he believes his work evokes. 'It doesn't exactly please you and raises many questions. People must ultimately decide for themselves what it means to them.' Visitors to the SFMOMA will have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with Tuymans' work until early May, after which the exhibition will move to Dallas and Chicago.

Take a look at The New York Times and The New Yorker articles about the exhibition.