How to Navigate the Legacy Blog of Henri van Bentum, 1929 - 2022

Henri aboard 60' sloop, en route from Ibiza to Pireaus

(For the account about this fateful 1961 voyage, see the post of August 26, 2008)

Welcome to the legacy blog of artist Henri van Bentum (1929-2022).  This site contains several hundred posts covering a vast array of topics, all written by Henri, beginning in 2008 when the blog launched. For a chronological menu of older posts, please see the lower left-hand side of this page. The site is curated by Natasha van Bentum, lifelong partner of Henri for fifty-one years.

Celebrating the International Day of Light 2024 - "Fruit Gathering" / "Organiverse"

Fruit Gathering: A Journey Into the "Organiverse" of Henri van Bentum, with Rabindranath Tagore - Part Two

With a focus on Light this contemplative online exhibit features a series of ten sequential video and audio chapters embracing one hundred mandalas ("Organiverse" Starry Night edition, created by artist Henri van Bentum) with the eighty-six poems, "Fruit Gathering" by Tagore, exploring themes of light and life. Read by producer Brian W.E. Johnson.

Mandala #25 from #100 set, Organiverse, Henri van Bentum, 1972

Join us as we explore Rabindranath’s epic work “Fruit Gathering”, comprised of eighty-six poems, paired with the 100 mandalas of Henri van Bentum’s “Organiverse – Starry Night edition”.  

Each poem is read by producer Brian W.E. Johnson.  

Just as Rabindranath Tagore uses light as a symbol for hope and freedom, and to represent divine love, Henri van Bentum’s Organiverse series is a glimpse into the multi-layered beauty of all that is life and light, a dance of colour, form and contemplation.

Link to the full playlist:  

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLimVRC0ywrmjNrYPJkFNqLRqim15PMpK0

This project is a sequel to the "Gitanjali/Organiverse" exhibit, described in our post of January 5, 2022. For full details click here. 

More about Organiverse, both the Original and Starry Night editions, can be found here. 

For a link to the special issue of "Gitanjali and Beyond", Issue #7. published by the Scottish Centre of Tagore Studies, click here.