A series of paintings by Hynek Martinec is an illustration of a conceptual pun and tells a fictitious story of a campaign to build a cathedral in Iceland in the first half of the 18th century, and have it decorated with paintings. K. I. Dientzenhofer never built the cathedral, but the set of paintings bound for Iceland, which, as the story would have it, survived until the present day, is now being shown here as Voyage to Iceland. About thirty paintings and drawings communicate – through numerous references – with many Baroque art pieces from the collection of the National Gallery. In many ways, Martinec’s reinterpretations and paraphrases prompt us to see the original paintings in a new light and bring up new questions about the role of modern painting and the context.
The exhibition will be held in the Sternberg Palace, National Gallery in Prague.
The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery in Prague in cooperation with the Galerie Rudolfinum.
Curators: Petr Nedoma (GR), Otto M. Urban (NG)