For two years, public-spirited citizens in The Netherlands have been pitching in guilders to the Prince Bernhard Fund so that promising Dutch artists can broaden their vision and sharpen their palettes by foreign travel. Last week, in Amsterdam's municipal museum, the travelers exhibited their new work. The general verdict of deeply disappointed Dutch critics: the money was wasted.
One artist spent several months in Corsica, but seemed to have found no more sunlight than he used to filter on to his dark canvases at home. Another, surrounded by the lush scenery of CuraÇcao, painted the same intricate abstractions that she did before she went away. A third went to Spain, and seemed to have seen the same landscapes he had known between The Hague and the Hook of Holland.
Summary judgment of Amsterdam's Het Parool: there was no sign that any of the eight traveling artists broadened his work. "One half could just as well —and the other half better—have stayed at home."