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Three ‘Van Gogh Girls’ outfits by Viktor&Rolf on display from 5 December in Boijmans
Three creations from Viktor&Rolf’s spring/summer 2015 haute couture collection ‘Van Gogh Girls’ will be shown at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen from 5 December to 14 February 2016.

Art collector Han Nefkens bought the three outfits, including the spectacular finale outfit, during Paris Fashion Week and donated them to the museum. The collection is made up of A-line babydoll dresses with flower prints combined with exuberant straw hats and flip-flops. With each successive dress more and more of the flowers come to life, eventually expanding to create enormous sculptural silhouettes. The straw hats give a surreal nod to rustic country life and eventually fuse with the dresses to form a unified whole. All the fabrics were produced by VLISCO using traditional batik-inspired painting and printing techniques.

Conceptual haute couture
Viktor Horsting (1969) and Rolf Snoeren (1969) are well known for their conceptual haute couture and unorthodox fashion shows. In the past they have presented an entire collection layer by layer on a single model, presented their clothes in a thick mist, hosted a fashion show only online, and sent models down the catwalk with light and sound installations strapped to their shoulders. Their conceptual collections often blur the distinctions between fashion and art.

Van Gogh as inspiration
For this collection Viktor&Rolf took their inspiration from the raw energy of Vincent van Gogh’s depictions of the countryside. Nature was his consolation and an inexhaustible source of new motifs for his art. This year is the 125th anniversary of the death of the artist who continues to inspire people all around the world.

Han Nefkens Fashion on the Edge ARTtube
In the video below - on the new Han Nefkens Fashion on the Edge video channel - Han Nefkens shares his enthusiasm about the collection.
Three ‘Van Gogh Girls’ outfits by Viktor&Rolf on display from 5 December in Boijmans                              

 
 
ArtAids

The ArtAids foundation was set up in 2006 at Han Nefkens’ initiative. ArtAids fights AIDS with the power of art as its most important weapon. ArtAids invites leading artists to produce work that is inspired by AIDS and related problems. These works of art are used to raise the public’s consciousness and to encourage their involvement.

Fundació Han Nefkens

The Han Nefkens Foundation is a private non-profit organisation that was set up in Barcelona in 2009 with the aim of promoting the production of contemporary artworks. The mission is to stimulate artistic creation in Barcelona by offering international artists an opportunity to create artworks and interventions in the city, and to promote other fields of contemporary creation.

H+F

Han Nefkens started to collect art in 2000. The H+F Collection, named after himself and his partner Felipe, is in long-term loan to various museums in The Netherlands and abroad. Nowadays Han Nefkens is not only active as a collector but also as an initiator of international art projects, often in collaboration with museums and other art institutions.