Tel Aviv is a city with a rich culture developed authentically under impressions of different art styles and forms. We have a unique art scene that demands attention and celebration. It is exactly what Rubin Museum is doing in September with its new diverse art festival that spans time, genres, mediums, and styles. If you consider yourself an art enthusiast, visiting this festival is a must. However, the whole art scene should be celebrated!
The spirit of Reuven Rubin
The name of the museum is a pledge to protect the unity of the art world and bridge past and future by celebrating classic art with a modern vision, finding balance amidst cultural dissonance, and creating new while looking back at the old. It is a philosophy that would be embraced by Rubin whose name embellishes the entrance to Tel Aviv’s art haven where talented people can express themselves and be celebrated by a wide audience of visitors.
The festival started in the middle of August and will end on September 27 with a bang — multiple performances and exciting iterations of works presented throughout the whole festival will impress thousands of people who want to enrich themselves culturally.
Israel cherishes and loves the legacy of Reuven Rubin whose biography is full of dramatic swings. Born in Romania in 1893, he started learning about the world’s beauty at a very early age and impressed his peers with amateurish yet beautiful paintings. He moved to Jerusalem in 1912 to study under the guidance of expert painters from the local Art Academy.
A year later, he went to Paris to pursue further education and expand his artistic horizon by working alongside respected masters. During World War I, he continued learning art and decided to travel overseas to America where European art was gaining traction among the cultural cliques in New York where he started exhibiting his works. He stayed there until 2023. Then, he decided to return to Palestine and continue working and, now, teaching.
Rubin’s work is widely considered one of the most influential among all artists of Palestinian or Jewish descent. He was a master of creating unique artistry and painting with the passion to demonstrate a unique vision of the world that could only be produced by someone who saw the complexity of the global culture and nuances of the human soul.
The Rubin Museum art festival is not the last
Thousands of artists were featured in the museum throughout the years. This particular festival is aimed at celebrating a variety of artistic forms and mediums, but it will not be the last huge event in the museum’s calendar.
Right now, the Rubin Museum is occupying only two floors of the building that served as a home to the famed painter. He lived in this building from 1946 to 1974. The building was repurposed for a museum in 1983 and became open to the public. Throughout the years, it served as a place to visit if you wanted to learn more about art created by Rubin, but it slowly started expanding its collection and adding works of other prominent artists.
The current exhibition is accompanied by works of contemporary painters, photographers, sculptors, and other artists. The festival will end, but the spirit of it will still fill the emptiness of the museum’s rooms during the reconstruction which will be renewed with reinvigorated efforts in 2023.
New exhibitions and festivals will enjoy bigger rooms and much better logistics when the acquisition and remodeling of three underground floors are completed. The plan is ambitious just like the works of the painter. After the renewal project of the museum is done, the museum will start inviting more artists to exhibit their collections.
If you are planning to visit Tel Aviv anytime soon, you should check this place out to enjoy what the world of modern artistry has to offer!