Dieric Bouts expands your horizons
Dieric Bouts is back in Leuven for this colossal cultural city festival. Five centuries ago, he was a master. Now, he’s back to prove that he’s still the master of expanding your horizons. Keep reading, and you’ll see: he looked at life from a different, novel perspective. At the city festival, expect him to flip your take on art and culture upside down.
Be inspired by Dieric Bouts four months long. Expand your horizons at the Leuven-wide New Horizons | Dieric Bouts Festival, starting Friday, 22 September.
Bouts who?
Dieric Bouts (c. 1410-1475)... proudly stands alongside greats like Jan Van Eyck and Rogier Van der Weyden. He is one of the most influential Flemish Masters. He was already expanding his perspective back in the day by exploring new horizons. He was, for example, one of the Dutch Republic’s first artists to successfully apply a scientific linear perspective. Bouts was a genius at drawing viewers deep into his landscape compositions. And these were genuine new horizons because Bouts built unparalleled, fantastic worlds. The painter also capitalised on the success of devotional portraits: a personalised faith experience in which the icon of Christ serves as a life guide.
Bouts’ works can be seen at world-class museums such as the Paris Louvre, Madrid’s Prado, The National Gallery in London, San Francisco’s Fine Arts Museum, and the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. And two of Bouts’ masterpieces are still on display at St Peter’s Church in Leuven: The Last Supper and The Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus. During the city festival, these masterpieces will temporarily take up residence at M Leuven for their major Dieric Bouts retrospective exhibition.
Why is Dieric Bouts back in Leuven?
Can a 15th-century painter still expand our cultural and artistic horizons today? If your name is Dieric Bouts, absolutely. This Leuven pioneer and Flemish Master inspired the city festival’s producers to develop original, innovative ideas. New Horizons is the common thread, inviting you to see and experience art and culture’s many mosaic facets. Ready for new horizons? This autumn, Leuven expands yours for four astonishing months.
Dieric Bouts in 11 questions
We don’t know much about Dieric Bouts, but what we do know is fascinating stuff.