Goethe Institute – Guggenheim on Goethe and Goya

– Mon 06 Oct, 6pm –

In conjunction with the presentation of his own works in Mai Gallery (opening 04 Oct) and the exhibition “Art in Times of War” (03 Oct – 17 Nov) in the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts, the artist, scholar and collector Dr. Hans Guggenheim will make his third visit to Vietnam.

From Oct 3rd 2008 the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts presents 46 works by the famous Spanish artist Francisco de Goya y Lucientes from the collection of Dr. Hans Guggenheim, together with 37 pieces by Vietnamese artists, all on the theme of war.

Dr. Guggenheim will also take this opportunity to present a lecture at the Goethe-Institut entitled “Guggenheim on Goethe and Goya”.

Lecture and discussion in English with simultaneous translation into Vietnamese.

About Hans Guggenheim

Born the son of Jewish parents in Berlin in 1924, Hans Guggenheim was educated in England and lived in Guatemala during the Second World War. There he began painting and exhibited his work publicly for the first time in 19405. Influenced by his parents’ interest in art, he decided to study art history in New York. After completing his studies in 1956 he traveled the world for LIFE magazine, drawing and reporting on artists and exhibitions. He then returned to university to study anthropology and Sociology of Knowledge, became Associate Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), spent a year at the Harvard Center for International  Affairs writing a report for UNESCO, and worked in Mali where he built water-granaries  and small dams to assist in the struggle of the population in the drought.

In 1997 his foundation Projectguggenheim began to build art schools and create art projects in countries such as China, Mali und Guatemala. His work as an artist is also well respected. His last two exhibitions of drawings (2007/8) were in Sweden and Australia.

Hans Guggenheim learned to love literature at a young age, with his mother quoting Goethe in daily conversation. This led to an interest in Goethe’s poems and plays, with Faust II becoming a life-long favorite. In Graduate school, he fell in love with  Goya as Professor Jose Lopez Rey presented him as one of Spain’s foremost  fighters for the spirit of the Enlightenment.

On Monday, Oct 6 at the Goethe-Institut Hanoi, Hans Guggenheim will present a lecture about his favorite German poet and the great Spanish painter, and will discuss an unknown and surprising  link between Goethe and Goya.