Cobra | 1000 Days of Free Art

S.Ü. Sakıp Sabancı Museum is hosting a wide selection of the most prominent works of the Cobra movement that shaped the art environment of the second half of the twentieth century in the exhibition Cobra – 1000 Days of Free Art. Named for the initials of the members’ home cities of Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam, this avant-garde movement was active from 1948 to 1951; the current show features over 60 works by Cobra artists. Organized within the framework of the celebration of the 400th year of diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and Turkey, these works from the Cobra Museum of Modern Art and the private collection of ABN AMRO Bank are being exhibited in Turkey for the first time. The selection of works includes paintings, sculpture, textiles, ceramics, works on paper, works inspired by jazz music and items of a documentary nature.

Among the works by the leading members of the Cobra movement is Karl Appel’s renowned “Femme, Enfants, Animaux”, as well as works by Eugène Brands, Constant, Corneille and Asger Jorn. This exhibition being presented to friends of the arts in our country for the first time has been realized with the support of ABN AMRO Bank, De Meeuw Group / ABC Prefabrik, Gözde Private Equity Investment Company, İpragaz, Merck Serono, TMF Group and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Visitors of the exhibition will also enjoy a voyage through the years 1930-1960 in which social and historical developments in Europe and in Turkey are related in a parallel construct. The black-and-white documentary consisting of images of historical importance will give visitors an idea of what was going on in the world at the time that the Cobra movement began. “Cobra – 1000 Days of Free Art” will continue until September 16, and will be accompanied by educational programs for children.