The Bellezza e Bruttezza exhibition: Bozar explores beauty and ugliness by showcasing 95 works of 16th century art
Until 14 June, the Brussels art centre Bozar highlights 95 Renaissance artworks, mostly made by world-renowned masters from Italy and the Low Countries. Beauty and ugliness are the connective tissue.
The fact that no fewer than some 60 owners from the whole of Europe and the US – including even the Vatican – have given a total of 95 paintings, drawings, and sculptures to Bozar on loan, is nothing short of a miracle. That gesture is indeed noteworthy, because many of the artworks are highly fragile and moving them is therefore very risky. On top of that, Bozar does not have its own permanent museum collection and therefore is unable to compensate them.
However, the efforts exceeded expectations. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian, Tintoretto, Botticelli, Cranach the Elder, and our very own Quinten and Jan Matsijs, … each display in their own way how the themes of beauty and ugliness were interpreted and depicted in art from around the 16th century.
The result is always jaw-droppingly beautiful and packs plenty of surprises. It ranges from portraits of lavishly dressed gorgeous women to terrifying satyrs or mocking jesters and worn-out, wrinkled faces with all sorts of physical deficiencies. It must be said that the latter may always be people living on the fringe of society, but fundamentally they are not less beautiful because of it. Sometimes even in the same artwork, beauty and ugliness vie for the visitor’s admiration.
Have you also noticed how often the artist has interwoven morality and sexuality in their work?