04/10/2024 - 26/01/2025

This international exhibition presents modern art from the 19th and 20th centuries that is inspired by European medieval and Northern Renaissance art. The themes of the diverse exhibition include death and rituals, but also sexuality and enlightenment.

Gustave Van de Woestyne, Bad Sower, 1908

Medieval and Renaissance art provided 19th and 20th-century artists with emotional material and ways to deal with fundamental human feelings, as well as birth, death, suffering and sexuality. The exhibition highlights a phenomenon that has not been addressed in art history before, examining how it is manifested in the works of renowned artists.

The artists featured in the exhibition include Arnold Böcklin, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Vincent van Gogh, Theodor Kittelsen, Käthe Kollwitz, Edvard Munch, Hugo Simberg, Helene Schjerfbeck, Marianne Stokes, and Gustave Van de Woestyne.  In addition to paintings and prints, the exhibition displays objects, sculptures and furniture.

Gustave Van de Woestyne, Deeske sitting, 1908
Gustave Van de Woestyne, Deeske on the Field, ca. 1908

After its debut at Ateneum, the exhibition will travel to the National Museum, Norway in Oslo and the Albertina Museum in Vienna.