An art award that actually rewards talent

Before I was asked to go out and cover it, I’d never heard of the Vincent Award for contemporary art. It’s a big deal in the Dutch art world, apparently, a sort of pan-European answer to the Turner Prize. It was set up by a charitable foundation with some deeply serious intent or other, and takes place around Holland every other year. The deal is that 50,000€ is awarded to – and I’m more or less directly quoting the literature here – a stimulating mid-career artist building a discussion platform. It is also, we are told, ‘Europe’s most prestigious art prize’. Are your bullshit detectors sounding off yet?

Sure enough, mine were. ‘Prestigious’ is one of those adjectival free-for alls, isn’t it? And ‘Europe’s most prestigious’ might be the single most abused compound superlative in the English language.

Two weeks ago, the ceremony was hosted at the Gemeentemuseum, an enormous Art Deco ziggurat in The Hague.