This autumn, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s main exhibition galleries will be filled with the impressive oeuvre of the Danish artist Tal R, recognised as one of the most active and productive artists of our time. His sources of inspiration are divergent. Tal R is also inspired by styles of other artists like Picasso, Dumas and Picabia. The other way around Tal R's work is internationally a point of reference for many comtemporary artists. 'Academy of Tal R' is the first major museum retrospective of this multidisciplinairy artist.

Tal R (Tel Aviv, 1967) has boundless creative energy: he transforms everything in his environment into art. His work looks wild and vital, with a knowingly playful, almost absurdist tone. Tal R freely combines techniques and materials: he paints, draws and makes collages, sculptures and furniture. Tal R is a keen observer, who takes inspiration from reality as well as his imagination. His work fits within the northern European tradition of Edvard Munch, Asger Jorn and Georg Baselitz.

Featuring hundreds of works, 'Academy of Tal R' is the artist’s largest exhibition to date. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is showing impressive pieces such as 'Deaf Institute', more than forty sculptures and the gigantic 'House of Prince' (2003-05), which comprises around 200 smaller works. Many of the works are in private collections and have rarely been exhibited.

The title 'Academy of Tal R' should be understood as a humorous provocation, since the artist’s work is anything but academic. With a sensory display, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen invites visitors to step into the unique and vivacious world of Tal R.

The exhibition shows that Tal R is a born storyteller with a keen eye for society. Tal R studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1994 to 2000. His artistic ideas are formed by his study of human behaviour and the inspiration he finds in music and literature.

Tal R takes inspiration from high and low culture and borrows from a broad range of figurative and abstract imagery. He describes his method often with the Yiddish word ‘kolbojnik’, which means ‘leftovers’ or ‘waste’. Seen side by side Tal R’s works form an academy of styles and observations that play with the porous membrane between art and life. His more recent paintings show a development in his methodology. He contrasts saturated colours with muted tones: his shimmering, festive scenes are claustrophobic and labyrinthine. His subjects are simple, but their meaning remains mysterious, like in dreams.

Drawing was important to Tal R from an early age: ‘For me, drawing was like dreaming at night: you can’t decide what to dream about; you dream about what you need.’