From May 17 to December 30, 2011, Belgium's brand-new, MAS (Museum aan de Stroom) will open the doors to its exhibition, Masterpieces of the MAS Collection. Five centuries of imagery in Antwerp. This spring, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA), the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA) and the Museum Plantin-Moretus/Prints Room (MPM/PK) look at how the foundation of Western visual culture was laid five centuries ago with some of the collection's masterpieces.
Following Antwerp's history as an international arts hub, the collection juxtaposes and contrasts the masterpieces of old masters with those of contemporary artists. From the intangible and the superhuman aspects of Western culture to contemporary society, the exhibition features the Wunderkammer (the wonder room), a cabinet of curiosities, where visitors can reflect upon themselves. Other works includes masterpieces by Abraham Ortelius, Adriaen Brouwer, Adriaen Colaert, Anne-Mie van Kerckhoven, and Jacob Jordaens, as well as James Ensor, Jan Fabre, Jan I Brueghel, Jan van Eyck and Jean Fouquet. Also on display are collection pieces by Joachim Patinir, Koen van den Broek, Luc Tuymans, Marlène Dumas and Narcis Tordoir, in addition to Panamarenko, Paulus Pontius, Peter Paul Rubens, Raoul De Keyser, Rogier van der Weyden and Simone Martini.
For more information, visit www.mas.be/eCache/MIE/30/08/397.html.