For many years, those who wanted to admire the world-famous works of the Brueghel family of painters had no choice but to travel to the world’s greatest museums in Paris, Berlin, Milan, and Boston. Now, for the first time in history, the Het Noordbrabants Museum is bringing together the best of five generations of Brueghel in a unique, ambitious, and game-changing collection of eighty paintings and prints – all under one roof. It’s a family reunion in 's-Hertogenbosch!
Enterprising, innovative, and world-famous, the Brueghels are the apex family in Western art history. The Brueghels produced paintings that are admired for their humorous compositions, universal messages, and exceptional skill. The subjects range from wedding celebrations, famous proverbs, and Biblical stories to awe-inspiring landscapes and studies of animals, insects, and flowers.
From generation to generation, the family business remained an international success. In the exhibition you get a look behind the scenes at three creative family businesses. The questions we cannot ask the Brueghels anymore, we ask them. Because what is it like to live and work together as a family?
For the first time in history, all five generations of the painters' family will share the stage in an all-encompassing exhibition about their strong family ties, their innovative thinking and (of course!) their art. The works on display include The Beggars by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (from Musée du Louvre in Paris), Vase of Flowers with Jewel, Coins and Shells by Jan Brueghel the Elder (from the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan) and The Drunkard pushed into the Pigsty by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (from a private collection in New York).
Bringing all the Brueghels together under one roof offers a unique opportunity to unravel the family's secret. What makes a Brueghel a Brueghel? Why did the family become such an international success? And how do the Brueghels relate to current social issues, such as gender roles, colonialism and slavery, and the relationship between humans and nature?
The exhibition also takes a fresh look at the powerful women of the Brueghel dynasty. Who were they and what was their role in the family’s success? Among others, we'll meet Mayken Verhulst: one of the most important female artists of her time as well as a shrewd businesswoman, mentor, artist's daughter, teacher, wife, mother-in-law, and grandmother. In a video, Ann DeMeester, director of Kunsthaus Zurich, and Jacqueline Grandjean, director of our museum, talk about this subject.
The exhibition will be supported by a catalogue with essays by Nadia Baadj, curator of ancient art at Het Noordbrabants Museum, and scholars Arthur DiFuria, Sarah Moran, Christine Göttler, and Marlise Rijks. The catalogue is available from the online bookstore and the museum shop. It also makes a great gift!
