M Leuven opens world-class exhibition'DIERIC BOUTS. Creator of Images'

Never before have so many works by the Flemish master been brought together in his hometown

October 19, 2023

M Leuven’s Bouts project is making Dieric Bouts part of art history. Never before have so many works by the Flemish master been brought together in his hometown. By radically confronting it with today’s visual culture, we bring a completely new perspective on work that is more than five centuries old.

Honours for a Forgotten Great

To this day, Dieric Bouts (c.1410-1475) has mainly been known as a ‘Flemish Primitive of the second generation’ or the ‘painter of silence’. His oeuvre is less well-known than that of pioneer Van Eyck and less instagrammable than Bosch’s apocalyptic scenes. This exhibition is an imposing tribute. For the first time, nearly 30 of Bouts’s works come together in Leuven, the city where he spent much of his life and where he painted his best panels.

Fast Forward: Today’s Visual Culture

The concept of this exhibition is definitely radical: we are not allowed to look at Bouts as an artist. The image we have today of the artiste peintre did not exist in the 15th century. Dieric Bouts was not a romantic genius or brilliant inventor, he was an image-maker. He painted what was expected of him and excelled at it. So it makes sense to confront him with today’s image-makers: sports photographers, filmmakers, game developers. M Leuven places them side-by-side with the old master. We show their work, but also invite them to select: in whose work do they find Bouts’s technical magic tricks today?

De tentoonstelling 'DIERIC BOUTS. Beeldmaker' in M Leuven loopt van 20 oktober 2023 tot en met 14 januari 2024.

Curator: dr. Peter Carpreau.