Belgian Spices

To Celebrate Friendship and Cultural Diversity
Art-Appreciation Lectures on Belgian Art, by Mariano Akerman

Discovering Belgian Art
Invitation to lectures by Mariano Akerman

1. The Marvel of Belgian Art and Its Diversity
2. Belgian Art: Reality and Fantasy
3. Tradition and Innovation in the Visual Arts of Belgium

Joris Hoefnagel
Detail from Mira calligraphiae monumenta, c. 1591, fol. 143v

René Magritte

Vanitas Still Life

Wolfers

Folon

Khnopff

Allegory of Painting, Brussels

Jan van Eyck

Rogier de la Pasture

Hieronymous Bosch

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Peter-Paul Rubens

Joris Hoefnagel

Antoine Wiertz

Constantin Meunier

Armand de Beul

Georges Lemmen

James Ensor

Léon Spillaert

René Magritte

Belgian Species is a digital set created by Mariano Akerman.

Mariano Akerman, Belgian Species, 2009
1. Mosaic

2. Fine Arts Museum

3. Tesselation Game

4. Lecture

5. Mega Exhibition

6. Petite Encyclopédie Belge, p. 325

7. Art Show

8. Puzzle

9. Biennale

10. Street Mural

Artists whose work has been included in the Belgian Spices Composition, fig. 1: René Magritte, Rogier de la Pasture, Joris Hoefnagel, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Léon Spilliaert, Georges Lemmen, Armand de Beul, Hendrik Goltzius, Jan van Eyck, Fernand Khnopff, James Ensor, David Teniers the Younger, Philippe Wolfers, Jean-Michel Folon.

Artworks: The Grand Family (Magritte), Portrait of a Young Lady (De la Pasture, c. 1430-45), Tulips and Other Living Beings (Hoefnagel, 1591), The Natural Graces (Magritte, 1963), Big Fish ate Little Fish (Brueghel, 1556), Vertigo (Spilliaert, 1908), Sunset (Lemmen, 1891), The Flavor of Tears (Magritte, 1948), Picking Up Potatoes (De Beul), Portrait of Charles the Bold (De la Pasture, 1460), Monkey on a Chain (Goltzius, 1597), This is Not an Apple (Magritte, 1964), Self-Portrait with Red Turban (Van Eyck, 1433), My Heart weeps for the Past (Khnopff, 1889), Clairvoyance (Magritte, 1936), The Tavern (Teniers, 1658), Skeletons fighting over a Smoked Herring (Ensor, 1891), Dragonfly (Wolfers, 1900), Yes to Peace (Folon).

Hoefnagel meets Magritte
Comparison by Mariano Akerman
First presented in "Discovering Belgian Art", Alliance Francaise de Karachi, Pakistan, 2009

Belgian Art - Art Belge - Belgische Kunst - Arte Belga. Among the achievements of the Belgian artists are the invention of the oil painting technique, the fostering of remarkable pictorial styles and a whole questioning of the notion of "reality" as such. Art Historian Mariano Akerman reveals the singularity and originality of a select group of Belgian masterpieces. He examines their style and meanings, historical context, aesthetic qualities and raison d'etre, appreciating them from unexpected, innovative perspectives.

Initially published 5.7.2008. Ref. : lectures, culture, education, reality, mimesis, fantasy, belgium, europe, fine art, design, visual arts