The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (RMFAB) is sending 26 art works to Lille for the Flemish Festivals and Celebrations exhibition, which commences on 26 April.
The exhibition aims to draw attention to the traditions which unite Belgium and northern France, as depicted in 16th and 17th-century paintings. During that era, the former Low Countries, including Lille and Belgium, were plagued by the Eighty Years’ War, sieges, plundering, religious disagreements, political rivalries, plagues, famines, and other tragedies.
Festivities became a means of social escape. "Celebrating becomes a way of forming a society," including men, women, children, the elderly, beggars, and the powerful, summarises the Lille institution.
To highlight this shared heritage, the exhibition will feature a hundred paintings, drawings, and engravings depicting village fairs, court celebrations, weddings, and other urban ceremonies. It will also include unique objects, such as beer jugs, drink coolers, and a head of the Antwerp giant, Druon Antigoon.
A press conference to preview the exhibition "Flemish festivals and celebrations" (26/04-31/08) at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille, designed in partnership with the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and the Musée du Louvre, in Lille, Tuesday 18 February 2025. Credit; Belga
As a testament to this Franco-Belgian collaboration, two scientific curators have joined forces: Blaise Ducos, head of Flemish and Dutch paintings at the Louvre, and Sabine van Sprang, curator of Flemish painting from 1550-1650 at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium.
The Louvre has lent seven works for the Lille exhibition, including Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Beggars. Hosted at the RMFAB, Jacob Jordaens’s The King Drinks is also among the exceptional paintings travelling to Lille.
Additionally, the Belgian KMSKA will lend pieces such as a sketch of The Triumphal Chariot of Kallo by Peter Paul Rubens. The MAS in Antwerp, the Royal Museum of Art and History, and the Royal Library of Belgium will also contribute to the exhibition.
