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5/10/2012

Flemish Landscape Fables in the 16th Century

Palais des Beaux-Arts Museum, Lille

Exhibition Curator:
Alain Tapié, Head Curator
Co-Exhibition Curators:
Manfred Sellink, Director, Municipal Museums, Bruges Paul Huvenne, Director, Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts, Antwerp
Paul Vandenbroeck, Curator, Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts, Antwerp
Michel Weemans, Art Historian, Professor, The Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Bourges

The Lille Palais des Beaux-Arts is organizing a major international exhibition entitled « Fables du Paysage Flamand au 16° Siècle, Bosch, Brueghel, Bles, Bril » (« Flemish Landscape Fables in the 16th Century ») from October 6, 2012 to January 14, 2013. This exhibition is preceded by a contemporary presentation on the theme of the Tower of Babel. The marvellous and fabulous characteristics of these landscapes, which still arouse feelings of fascination, awe, or perplexity, will be revealed through a hundred works of art in this exhibition.

At the dawn of the Mannerism movement landscapes stand out as the true subject of painting. Figures or Biblical stories were relegated to secondary importance by the desire to show the invisible, in order to produce an impression of infinity. Flemish artists invented a new way of painting, which was both captivating and creative, at the boundary between reality and imagination. Nature became the place for myths and fables. Trees and rocks were given human characteristics, and the strangest creatures were placed alongside men who were conducting their daily occupations.

In these hybrid worlds a path for life is drawn for the spectator. The Flemish landscape is a terrestrial framework, which encourages the spectator to engage in thought. It becomes the passageway between physical reality and the spiritual world.
These images show where the Christian faith and popular superstitions intertwined, where Beauty and the bizarre met, and where both the marvellous and the monstrous were present. Nature was written in a symbolic language, for which we no longer know all the codes. It carries us into a world which goes beyond our comprehension: cosmic, legendary, and infinite. Created as vast compositions, the paintings in the exhibition “Flemish Landscape Fables of the 16th Century” reproduce the unremitting action of world forces, on a miniature universal scale. Thus the artist’s act of painting participates in the creative process.

These works of art are signed by famous masters such as Bosch, Breughel, Met de Bles, Bril, or Patinir, but also by less wellknownbut nonetheless brilliant artists, like Jan Mandijn or Kerstiaen de Keuninck. Their powerful message continues into the modern world, and has never ceased to be meaningful. The exhibition is above and beyond an artistic opportunity. It is essentially the means of understanding the world around us.

Works of art coming from the collections of important French museums (Douai, Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg, Valenciennes...) and international museums (Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Florence, Ghent, London, Madrid, Rome, Rotterdam, Vienna...).

Exhibition Catalogue
Published thanks to the sponsorship of AG2R La Mondiale

This exhibition has been recognized as “of National Interest,” by the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication/Direction Générale des Patrimoines/Service des Musées de France, and has been granted exceptional financial aid from the State.

Press Contact:

France and Great Britain
Heymann Renoult Associées - Sarah Heymann et Laurence Gillion +33 (0)1 44617676 l.gillion@heymann-renoult.com

Nord-Pas de Calais
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille Mathilde Wardavoir +33 (0)3 20067818 mwardavoir@mairie-lille.fr

Palais des Beaux-Arts Museum in Lille
Place de la République - 59000 Lille, France
Lundi: 14h - 18h.
Du mercredi au dimanche: 10 h - 18h.

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