Bitches Brew at Bonnefanten: Figurative Art and the Veil of Autobiography

The Bonnefanten museum in Maastricht presents 'Bitches Brew', a group exhibition featuring three female artists—Keetje Mans, Tanja Ritterbex, and Aline Thomassen—each with a solo show under a shared title. The exhibition, on view until September 6, 2026, explores how figurative painting can both reveal and conceal personal experience. Mans's 'Shimmer of Bliss' opens the show with works that hide faces behind laundry or under thick paint layers, as in 'Things I Want To Tell You' (2023), which the author previously saw at Stedelijk Museum Schiedam. Ritterbex's 'Mama steht Kopf' includes her 'Selfie Series' (2015–2016) of 365 daily selfies, a video 'Selfie Video' (2026), and paintings that embrace visual density. Thomassen's 'I am You- You are Me' features a long row of nude female figures with aquarelle that morphs into organs and umbilical cords. The title references Miles Davis's 1970 album, suggesting improvisation. The author, Dineke Blom, questions whether autobiographical figuration reduces women's art to personal expression, citing historical examples like Florine Stettheimer and Tracey Emin. The exhibition runs through September 6, 2026.