Van Eyck. An Optical Revolution


As the Covid-19 lockdown happened the largest exhibition ever of Van Eyck’s workwas open at the Museum of Fine Arts (MSK) Ghent containing about half of his 22 known works as well as workshop copies of now lost originals and over 100 other masterpieces from the later Middle Ages. I had looked at how I might get to this show but failed to work out the logistics.

However, in wonderful video Till-Holger Borchert, Director Museums Bruges and one of the curators of exhibition leads you around the show after it was closed. It really gives an idea of what the show was like, taking you around room by room and following it’s narrative. In just 26 minutes he talks you through some fascinating detail of the symbolism of the work with fantastic close ups of the pictures which give a sense of how you yourself would look at the details in a show.

There is another fun video of the show by the art critic Waldemar Januszczak for the Sunday Times. It was filmed as the show was being set up so there are intriguing glimpses and sounds of the gallery staff installing the show and you pick up on his sense of excitement about the works. He shows more of the non-Van Eyck work than the curator and points out how it is used to demonstrate the superiority of the Northern Renaissance at this point in time.



Both videos left me wanting even more to have seen the show. I love the reality and detail of Flemish art from this period and this exhibition looks like a masterpiece in its own right.

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