Johan de Meij

The Venetian Collection

The Venetian Collection by Johan de Meij consists of four movements which are all a musical reflection of the four paintings of the same names from the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice. Voice of Space is the first movement of The Venetian Collection. The picture on which the music is based on was painted by the Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte. Along with Ensor, Permeke and Delvaux he was one of the most important painters of the 20th century. The Red Tower was inspired by the painting of the same name (La Torre Rossa) by the Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico, and was awarded first prize in the International Composition Contest in Oman. One of the towers of the mediaevalwalls of the Italian town of Soncino (home to the band for whom Johan de Meij wrote the work for) shows a remarkable resemblance to the tower in the work of De Chirico. Magic Garden contrasts starkly with the other movements of the cycle. As with the painting, Johan de Meij has tried to reflect the colourful, naive dream world of Paul Klee. The transparent texture, in which the woods play an important role, makes a striking impression throughout this serene movement. Empire of Light is also based on a work by René Magritte. He was a versatile and productive artist producing over 1100 paintings and 700 gouaches. Johan de Meij used the painting Empire of Light as his theme for the last movement of his Venetian Collection.