“From Bruegel to Rembrandt: Dutch and Flemish Prints and Drawings from 1550 to 1700” at the Detroit Institute of Art

Sat, Feb 15 - Sun, Jul 26  2020

“From Bruegel to Rembrandt: Dutch and Flemish Prints and Drawings from 1550 to 1700”

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) presents an exhibition of prints and drawings from artists such as Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Rembrandt in “From Bruegel to Rembrandt: Dutch and Flemish Prints and Drawings from 1550 to 1700” on view Saturday, February 15–July 26, 2020. This exhibition is in conjunction with “Bruegel’s The Wedding Dance Revealed,” and both are free with museum admission (which is free for residents of Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties).

The exhibition features more than 100 prints and drawings from the DIA’s permanent collection. From elaborate engravings by Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617) to the use of dots, dashes and “squiggles” by Rembrandt (1606–1669), Bruegel to Rembrandt reveals the range of printmaking techniques and styles used in the 16th and 17th centuries. Drawings by Dutch and Flemish masters span lively portrait sketches to detailed preparatory drawings and were used by artists as brainstorming “sessions” for more complex works or as visual references for future pieces.

Visitors will be able to view the works through the eyes of the artists, who turned to everyday subjects, portraying the landscape and people around them with humor and loving detail. The themes include representation of everyday life, the importance of landscape, the role of Greek and Roman classical models and the use of religious imagery during the Counter-Reformation.

According to Clare Rogan, DIA curator of prints and drawings “This exhibition shows the incredible depth of Dutch and Flemish art in the DIA collection. It includes selections from the encyclopedic collection of prints and drawings gathered in the 1880s by newspaper magnate James E. Scripps (1835-1906) and given by his widow, Mrs. Harriet J. Scripps (1838-1933) in 1909, as well as rare drawings identified by DIA director Wilhelm Valentiner (1880–1958) during the 1920s and 1930s…”

About DIA

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), one of the premier art museums in the United States, is home to more than 60,000 works that comprise a multicultural survey of human creativity from ancient times through the 21st century. From the first Van Gogh painting to enter a U.S. museum (Self-Portrait, 1887), to Diego Rivera’s world-renowned Detroit Industry murals (1932–33), the DIA’s collection is known for its quality, range and depth. The DIA’s mission is to create opportunities for all visitors to find personal meaning in art individually and with each other.