Israeli Art: The Swing of the Pendulum

Between war and its absence, existential fear reawakening past traumas and the normal routines of a healthy society, life in Israel recalls the swinging of a pendulum, moving between opposite poles. This pendulum motion is also apparent in the art created here from the early twentieth century to this day.

Contemplation of the Israeli artworks presented in the exhibition reveals three modes of observing reality: a clear, direct gaze, apparent in works that touch on social and political issues; an idealized gaze that paints reality in idyllic, consoling tones; and a gaze that looks deeper, beyond reality, abstracting forms and colors from it and at times touching on the sublime.

The exhibition's second space explores the theme of home, whether personal or metaphorical. The home as a vessel of warmth and security, seclusion and healing; but, at the same time, a home whose foundations have been shaken, its boundaries unstable. The sense of the earth quaking beneath our feet and of overt or repressed anxiety is also conveyed in the works displayed in the third space, suffusing internal landscapes and emotionally loaded scenes. Above the entire display, the pendulum of our lives continues to swing, oscillating between fear and beauty, anxiety and hope.

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all of the works in the exhibition are from the collection of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem