Art Event At Brussels
- October 9th, 2007
- Posted by Sian Graham
Europalia International is a non-profit association that organises a major international arts festival every two years, to celebrate the cultural heritage of countries invited to attend–and this time there are27 countries represented.
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS EUROPE’S NEW DESTINY
“Step right up! Step right up! Come one come all to the extraordinary Europalia Europa exhibition.”
Since 1969 Europalia has organised 20 festivals, representing 17 different countries, with over 14 million visitors participating in some 7652 events.
From this October to February 2008 visitors will get the chance to discover something more about the culture of the 27 Member States of the European Union.
That’s been arranged because the 2007-08 Europalia coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome; the beginnings of today’s European Union.
The honour of opening Europalia Europa, based at Brussels, was awarded (3.10.07) to the Heads of State of the two new member countries of the European Union: the Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov, and Romanian President Traian Basescu.
PATHWAYS OF ART
The festival’s central event is the exhibition, “The Grand Atelier– Pathways of Art in Europe 15th– 18th Century”, at the Centre of Fine Arts in Brussels, 5.10.07 to 20.1.08.
It follows the travels of artists, artworks and patrons, offering a new view of Europe’s cultural history.
Constructed around fourteen themes, illustrating some 250 artistic masterpieces from over one hundred European museums, the works will display moments in the emergence of artistic dialogue and development of European art.
There are the great names — including Da Vinci, Vitruvius, Van Eyck and Rubens, together with lesser known sculptors of ivory, gold and silversmiths, architects and miniaturists.
Another exhibition, “All Roads Lead to Rome”, documents the influence Italy played in the journey of European artists form the 16th to 19th Century.
That dynamic exhibition assembles the accounts of journeys made by painters, writers and philosophers such as Montaigne, Erasmus, Goethe and Stendhal, as they crossed Europe making their way to Italy.
Their personal stories will be displayed in words and paintings, chronicling the chosen routes, rest stops and encounters with fellow travellers.