Discover Benelux | Museums Special | Belgium & France
and goes on to chart its development through the ages, from the individual as a show of power or protest to the rise of the selfie. Another highlight in the museum’s calendar is the Still Life exhibition drawing on works by Japanese photographer and artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, who is renowned for combining western art with eastern mysticism and his seascapes, which he began to photograph in the 1980s. This new exhibition, running from 20 April until 19 August, will feature a series of 40 photographs that will interact with works of ancient art that are displayed nearby. By carefully considering the pieces on display, visitors will see how Sugimoto’s work is reminiscent of that of iconic Flemish primitives – true precursors of photography – with com-
mon characteristics including richness in detail and depth, striking light effects and unique takes on nature. Another exhibition to add to your list this spring is My Queens, which will run from 20 April until 19 August. This collection has been assembled by multidisciplinary Belgian artist Jan Fabre, who draws on works by Baroque Master Jacques Jordaens including a series of marble bas-reliefs and a statue of Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Brabant. This exhibition is an ode to all the important women in Fabre’s life and stems from a conscious move to put women centre stage in Belgian society. The last of the museum’s major exhibitions this spring is Thinking The Veil, which will focus on the works of contem-
Michel Mouffe, Thinking the Veil, 2018 Photo: © Courtesy of the artist and the Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Brussels Mix Media.
porary Belgian artist Michel Mouffe and will run from 23 March until 19 August. The Brussels-based artist is renowned for exploring the foundations of painting by challenging its limits, with his works made up of many thin coats of paint and glaze, resulting in translucent layers that blend into an almost immaterial surface. Through a series of monochromatic paintings that Brussels-based Mouffe has created especially for the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, he takes visitors on a journey into the enigmatic world of colours, offering them insight into his unique research into colour and light and how he incorporates this in different ways in all of his works. For more information on the museum, visit www.fine-arts-museum.be/en
Michaël Borremans, Amy, 2017 © Courtesy Zeno, X Gallery, Antwerp, Photo: Peter Cox
Hiroshi Sugimoto, The Last Supper, 1999. Photo: © Hiroshi Sugimoto
Issue 52 | April 2018 | 19