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Permanent Exhibitions

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The permanent exhibitions of Moshe Castel’s artwork is the heart and soul of the museum. These exhibitions are devoted to the paintings and artistic creations of the artist, to his world and life history.
 

Moshe Castel: From the roots to the Sefirot
The first permanent exhibition at the Castel Museum was designed by Bilha Castel, the painter's widow, according to her personal taste and aesthetic values ​​and from the collection of works at her disposal. About two years later, the exhibition was replaced by a personal arrangement reminiscent of the home of an artist or a private collector, to a display more typical of the museum. The works are arranged chronologically according to distinct periods - an arrangement that emphasizes the development of Castel's work in the timeline. This is a look that characterizes the discipline of art history. Today, with the celebration of the decade of the museum's establishment, the exhibition is once again changing and organized by theme. It consists of three chapters, with each chapter displayed in one of the three permanent display spaces. The first hall is dedicated to the episode "Spanish Roots"; The second hall presents the theme "The artist seeks language"; And the third hall deals with the chapter "Mysticism and Kabbalah." The passages between the halls display key works by the artist in the local and international context. The first passage shows Castel's position in the international art field, and the second passage is dedicated to his position in the Israeli art field.

Each chapter is built around significant points in the painter's activity, based on the museum's collection. Through typical works we will follow the process of formulating Castel's personal language. Castel's art is richer than the range associated with it, which has reduced his work to commercial needs. The exhibition presents lesser-known works by the artist, which deviate from the "line" that marked him. Castel identified himself as a craftsman attentive to the material aspect of the work. The materiality of the oil paints and pigments, sand and earth, fabric and textiles, ground basalt stones and adhesives - all of these have become an integral part of his artistic work, and over the years his painting work has become increasingly sculptural. His paintings explore the medium of painting while formulating a personal and local language that corresponds to the birth of a Hebrew homeland after World War II.

Throughout his artistic career, Castel has shown technical, material and physical proficiency. He was exposed to the best creators of his time through conversations with contemporary artists; At the same time he used to copy works by past artists that were displayed in the Louvre. His residences in vibrant art centers, from Jerusalem, through Paris, Safed and New York to Tel Aviv, allowed him to get acquainted with the art history of the distant past, and at the same time to become acquainted with current trends in contemporary art. Paintings he created in his personal language, the color coders in a technique he developed himself, sought to express various aspects of topics that interested him in expressing: primordial-geological identity; Ancient Hebrew identity; And a mystical Jewish identity that culminated in the Kabbalah doctrine he absorbed in Beit Saba.

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