Madelon Vriesendorp – Cultural Journey: High & Low

To many people travel is an ultimate quest for culture, entertainment and shopping. This closely-knit mix of elitist and popular forms of leisure also finds its expression in most big museums, where the experience of art competes with experiences gained in the museum café and the museum shop. In a time of fast food and high speed trains one could also speak of Fast Art: a quick bridge to culture, with recognisable, portable replicas of those favourite artworks we could never afford.

For the walls of the buffet car on the Thalys, Vriesendorp designed a surrealist cultural landscape assembled of classical masterpieces. The ‘masterpiece landscape’, which runs along the upper wall of the car like a classic frieze, is an homage to a world populated by familiar cultural icons (both popular and more elitist) from The Netherlands, Belgium and France. While having a bite, the traveller enjoys the company of TinTin, the Michelin Man, Barbar, Vincent van Gogh, a spilled milk bucket, a schooner, and others. They are familiar images that astonish and amuse, and prove their ability to bridge generations.