2022
8th Biennial of Painting
26.06—02.10.2022

For this 8th edition, each museum invited a guest curator who highlighted specific themes and characteristics of the painting medium and connected them with contemporary storylines. This created a kaleidoscopic view of painting from the past century to today, addressing specific themes such as genealogy, authorship, and shared histories.
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Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens
The ‘t’ is Silent

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens invited artist Oscar Murillo and curator Gabi Ngcobo to focus, with the exhibition The ‘t’ is Silent, on artists and works that recorded time differently, works that were about painting or that thought through the medium of painting as a form of journaling – of working things through and of learning anew.

Anh Trần, Annabelle Agbo Godeau, Brandon Ndife, Chemu Ng’ok, Dalton Paula, Donna Kukama, Francis Offman, Hamishi Farah, Jenny Montigny, Kerry James Marshall, Marcela Cantuária, Misheck Masamvu, Oscar Murillo.

Roger Raveel Museum
Scribble, dabble, splatter, smear

The exhibition Scribble, dabble, splatter, smear – curated by Vaast Colson and Melanie Deboutte questioned the intrinsic properties of painting as a visual medium, its technical qualities, and its two-dimensional universe full of signs and motifs. The focus was on the inherent visual strategies used by the artists based on personal considerations and in response to contemporaries and predecessors. The selection included only artists who had been or were active in Belgium and spanned more than a hundred years.

Fred Bervoets, Jean Brusselmans, Jacques Charlier, Anton Cotteleer, Jan Cox, Franky D.C, Thierry De Cordier, Raoul De Keyser, Valerius De Saedeleer, Gust. De Smet, Stefaan Dheedene, Marthe Donas, James Ensor, Alice Frey, Vincent Geyskens, Jacques Lizène, René Magritte, Roger Raveel, Pjeroo Roobjee, Léon Spilliaert, Walter Swennen, Narcisse Tordoir, Luc Tuymans, Edgard Tytgat, Thé van Bergen, Guy Van Bossche, Patrick Van Caeckenbergh, Frits Van den Berghe, Jan Van Imschoot, Herman Van Ingelgem, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Philippe Vandenberg, Jan Vercruysse, Marthe Wéry, Henri-Victor Wolvens, Maurice Wyckaert

Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek
Gamechangers & Eyeopeners

Mudel – alongside curator Willem Elias and platvvorm – analyzed the practices of certain artists who, on the one hand, were embedded in and inspired by local trends or traditions, but who either couldn’t ground themselves in these or found them too limiting. Recurring patterns across generations were also revealed. Making an exhibition is always a form of research, and in Gamechangers & Eyeopeners, that aspect of research was strongly emphasized.

Charles-René Callewaert, Emile Claus, Amédée Cortier, Werner Cuvelier, Raoul De Keyser, Marcin Dudek, Dieter Durinck, Artur Eranosian, Henri Evenepoel, Tsuguharu Foujita, Jef Geys, Gommaar Gilliams, Al Held, Torahiro Kojima, Guy Mees, Frans Piens, Johan Van Geluwe, Jos Verdegem, Pierre Vlerick, Gustave Van de Woestyne

2020
7th Biennial of Painting
Inner Spaces
26.07—18.10.2020

Under the title Inner Spaces, this edition of the Biennial focused on the interior within the tradition of art history. Traditionally, the interior is the backdrop to a scene or the shell housing a story – a frame within a frame. The interior conceals and reveals. It exists within the boundaries of its own intimacy and protection. Yet this ‘inside’ also presupposes an ‘outside’.

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Although the theme of Binnenskamers was chosen long before the outbreak of the coronavirus and the first lockdowns, it had a particularly powerful resonance in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The boundaries that separate the public from the private are presently dissolving and transforming into all kinds of digital collectivity and intimacy. New hybrid spaces have developed at the intersection of domestic life, work and leisure. When our field of vision became limited to the dimensions of our windows or our computer screen, and the world beyond seemed to be framed as a virtual reality, the question of the limits of the ‘interior’ became more salient than ever.

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens

Mamma Andersson, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Gust. De Smet, Léon De Smet, James Ensor, Melissa Gordon, Suchan Kinoshita & Olivier Foulon, Marie-Fleur Lefebvre, Lucy McKenzie, Walid Raad, Maaike Schoorel, Chris Huen Sin Kan, Louis Thevenet, Luc Tuymans, Rik Wouters

Roger Raveel Museum

Chantal Akerman, Jean Brusselmans, Jean-Marc Bustamante, René Daniëls, Raoul De Keyser, Lili Dujourie, Vedran Kopljar, Valérie Mannaerts, Roger Raveel, Narcisse Tordoir, Philippe Van Snick, Jan Van Imschoot, Jan Vercruysse

mudel

Emile Claus, Léon De Smet, Sarah De Vos, Joëlle Dubois, Bendt Eyckermans, Olga Fedorova, Charles Picqué, Jan Sluijters, Charley Toorop, Jan Van Beers, Kristof Van Heeschvelde, Carel Willink

2018
6th Biennial of Painting
On Landscapes
01.07—30.09.2018

The sixth edition tackled the theme of landscapes. The Biennial takes place in a region whose landscape has been the ultimate source of inspiration for artists such as Raveel, De Saedeleer, Permeke and many others who have played a decisive role in the ‘landscape’ of painting. read more

De fascinatie voor het ongerepte landschap beleefde in de Romantiek een ongekend hoogtepunt, maar met de komst van de modernisering en industrialisering is de teloorgang van de natuur ook in de kunst van latere periodes op de voorgrond getreden. Kunst, moderniteit en de Leiestreek zijn meer dan anderhalve eeuw met elkaar verbonden – van de landschapsschilders uit de negentiende eeuw, de Vlaamse expressionisten en de Nieuwe Visie tot hedendaagse creaties. Vandaag is het traditionele genre van het landschap bijzonder relevant voor hedendaagse schilders om ook actuele thema’s zoals ecologie, migratie en globalisering te benaderen. Naast schilderkunst, komt tijdens de Biënnale ook het landschap in bewegend beeld aan bod. In MDD selecteerde curator Cis Bierinckx zeven filmwerken. Alle benaderen ze het landschap cinematografisch, thematisch en met narratieve vrijheid vanuit een eigen perspectief.

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens

Etel Adnan, Anna-Eva Bergman, Huma Bhabha, Dirk Braeckman, Marie Cloquet, Jules De Balincourt, Valerius De Saedeleer, Adelheid De Witte, Karel Dierickx, Nicolas Party, Constant Permeke, Marina Rheingantz, Glen Rubsamen. Met films van Doug Aitken, James Benning, Sebastián Díaz Morales, Lukas Marxt, Enrique Ramírez, Meggy Rustamova, Beatriz Santiago Muñoz

Roger Raveel Museum

Maria Thereza Alves, Hippolyte Boulenger, Dirk Braeckman, Jean Brusselmans, Jean-Marie Bytebier, Cathérine Claeyé, Stijn Cole, Jana Cordenier, Franz Courtens, Felix De Boeck, Raoul De Keyser, Damien De Lepeleire, Ronny Delrue, Valerius De Saedeleer, Arthur Douhaert, James Ensor, Andreas Eriksson, Wannes Goetschalckx, Jóhannes Kjarval, Georges Lemmen, Constant Permeke, Emmanuelle Quertain, Roger Raveel, Júlíana Sveinsdóttir, Lukas Vandenabeele, Carole Vanderlinden, Tinus Vermeersch, Sophie Whettnall & Aboriginal painting and Chinese painting

Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek

Francis Alÿs, Emile Claus, Dirk Braeckman, Saar De Buysere, Xavier De Cock, Wim Delvoye, Stief DeSmet, Alain Huck, Yun-Fei Ji, Nayra Martin Reyes, Raquel Maulwurf, Stefan Peters, Greet Van Autgaerden, Lucien Van Den Driessche, Bruno Van Dijck, Edmond Van Dooren

2016
5th Biennial of Painting
Yoknapatawpha
26.06—25.09.2016

The theme chosen for 2016 was ‘Heimat or unknown territory’ with the somewhat alienating subtitle Yoknapatawpha. This word was borrowed from the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, created by American writer William Faulkner as the setting for most of his novels, including The Sound and the Fury and Absolom, Absolom! Although made up, this society had a striking resemblance to his native Lafayette County in Mississippi. read more

“I discovered that my own little postage stamp of native soil was worth writing about and that I would never live long enough to exhaust it.”  –William Faulkner

The theme brought together artists who seek the contrast of local vs imaginary/exotic escapism.

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens

Ellen Altfest, George Condo, Walter Dahn, James Ensor, Liam Everett, Tatjana Gerhard, Denise Green, Maki Na Kamura, Johan Nobell, Albijn Van den Abeele

Roger Raveel Museum

Etel Adnan, Stijn Ank, Farah Atassi, Rachel Baes, Antonio Berni, Forrest Bess, Thomas Bogaert, Bram Bogart, Raoul De Keyser, Valerius De Saedeleer, Gust De Smet, Lionel Estève, Henri Evenepoel, Jef Geys, Tatjana Gerhard, Jane Graverol, Fadia Haddad, Le Corbusier, Ernest Mancoba, Constant Permeke, Charlotte Posenenske, Jan Schoonhoven, Frits Van den Berghe, Carole Vanderlinden, Bart Vandevijvere, Vincent Van Gogh, Rik Wouters

Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek

Silvia Bonotto, Kasper Bosmans, Emile Claus, William Degouve de Nuncques, Sanam Khatibi, Carla Klein, Octave Landuyt, Moshekwa Langa, Lode Laperre, René Magritte, Gustave Van de Woestyne, Joe Van Rossem, Colin Waeghe

2014
4th Biennial of Painting
The touch of the painter
29.06—02.10.2014

The fourth edition focused on the notion of texture and the materiality of the painting as an object, and went in search of the physical building blocks and sensory experiences that result from this. Elements such as brushwork (the way in which the paint is applied as well as the typical gesture characteristic of each individual painter), the carrier of the painting (panel, canvas, paper, metal, glass, wall, etc.), the nature and composition of the paint (oil, acrylic, gouache, watercolour, industrial paint…) and other materials used for painting (in the broadest sense: mud, paper, rays of light, and so on). read more

In this way, the participating artists alternate between the paint stroke that becomes an autonomous motif and the paint application that forms a layered skin. For this biennial, the Museum of Deinze and the Lys Region (mudel) joined Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens and the Roger Raveel Museum for the first time.

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens

Richard Aldrich, Martin Barré, Jerry Galle, Ermias Kifleyesus, Roy Lichtenstein, Kjell Nupen, Robert Ryman, Niele Toroni, Philippe Vandenberg, Koen van den Broek, Jack Whitten, Henri-Victor Wolvens, Rik Wouters

Roger Raveel Museum

Karel Appel, Bram Bogart, Dirk Braeckman, Daniel Buren, Franz Courtens, Mario De Brabandere, Bart De Clercq, Robert Devriendt, Karel Dierickx, James Ensor, Lucio Fontana, Günther Förg, Gao Qibei, Jef Geys, Vincent Geyskens, Melissa Gordon, Mary Heilmann, Imi Knoebel, Eugène Leroy, Bernd Lohaus, Agnes Maes, Guy Mees, Ben Nicholson, Laura Owens, Roger Raveel, Matthieu Ronsse, Walter Swennen, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Mitja Tušek, Luc Tuymans, Carole Vanderlinden, Dan Van Severen, Andy Warhol, Marthe Wéry, Rik Wouters

Museum Deinze en de Leiestreek

Virginie Bailly, Aglaë Bassens, Mil Ceulemans, Emile Claus, Felix De Boeck, Raoul De Keyser, Sonia Delaunay-Terk, Thomas Downing, Marlene Dumas, Max Ernst, Pierre-Louis Flouquet, Naoto Kawahara, Eugène Leroy, Constant Permeke, Roger Raveel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Albert Servaes, Frits Van den Berghe, Henry van de Velde, Gustave Van de Woestyne, Fik van Gestel, Théo Van Rysselberghe, Evi Vingerling

2012
3rd Biennial of Painting
The Image of Man
01.07—30.09.2012

For the 2012 edition, the focus was on humanity’s view of itself: how have artists in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries portrayed humankind and with what intention? In the history of Western painting, the representation of human beings has become an almost obsessive preoccupation. read more

In contrast to other cultures, European and North American art have given prominence to the human figure. In recent decades, from a globalist, non-Eurocentric perspective – and in the light of the evolution towards abstract, minimalist and conceptual art – the question is how the complexity of our image of humanity survives in painting.

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens

Francis Alÿs, Karel Appel, Cris Brodahl, Robert Devriendt, Florin Mitroi, Constant Permeke, Elizabeth Peyton, Neo Rauch, Paula Rego, Frits Van den Berghe

Roger Raveel Museum

Georg Baselitz, Michaël Borremans, Jacques Charlier, Hippolyte Daeye, Mario De Brabandere, Ellen De Meutter, Marlene Dumas, James Ensor, Eugène Laermans, Eugène Leroy, Emilio Lopez-Menchero, Constantin Meunier, Benjamin Moravec, Roger Raveel, August Sander, Mario Sironi, Jakob Smits, Léon Spilliaert, Thomas Struth, Walter Swennen, Luc Tuymans, Edgard Tytgat, Gustave van de Woestijne, Koen van den Broek, Jan Van Imschoot, Theo Van Rysselberghe, Andy Warhol, Christopher Williams

2010
2nd Biennial of Painting
Beyond the sublime
04.07—19.09.2010

Every art lover has had an occasional, cherished encounter with an artwork, where for a moment they seemed to have unlocked a glimpse of the unattainable, the intangible. It is an overwhelming feeling that cannot be put into words, yet we carry it with us all our lives.
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This second edition explored works of painting of the last decades that are considered ‘sublime’. The exhibition was an intense and introspective experience in which the sacred and sublime meaning of art was approached from a new perspective. The artists, each in their own way, embarked on an aesthetic quest to uncover the mystery of the ‘sublime’. This ambitious challenge manifested differently for each artist; from grand gesture to ascetic simplicity, with the experience of the artwork as the ultimate end point.

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens

Hippolyte Daeye, Thierry De Cordier, Ilse D’Hollander, Lucio Fontana, Peter Joseph, Gerhard Richter, Ugo Rondinone, Gustave Van de Woestyne, Dan Van Severen, Christopher Wool

Roger Raveel Museum

Marcel Broodthaers, Jean Brusselmans, Koenraad Dedobbeleer, Raoul De Keyser, Valerius De Saedeleer, Dirk De Vos, Karel Dierickx, Lucio Fontana, Mary Heilmann, Ann Veronica Janssens, Tom Jooris, Piero Manzoni, Robert Mangold, Guy Mees, Giorgio Morandi, Blinky Palermo, Roger Raveel, Gerhard Richter, Robert Ryman, Jan Schoonhoven, Josh Smith, Albijn Van den Abeele, Koen van den Broek, Cy Twombly, Bram van Velde, Michael Venezia, Christopher Wool, Heimo Zobernig

2008
1st Biennial of Painting
The Joy of Looking
29.06—21.09.2008

This first edition brought together a selection of works by artists who choose the subject as an alibi for painting itself: the image as an invitation to observe the interplay of form and colour, lines and planes, an invitation to study light and shadow, to evoke dramatic feelings, to become aware of the beautiful material … read more

While these artists position themselves as radical innovators, they also use tradition to develop their work in a very personal way.

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens

Philip Akkerman, Georg Baselitz, Jean Brusselmans, René Daniëls, Markus Lüpertz, Laura Owens, Francis Picabia, Roger Raveel, Anselm Reyle, Jan Van Imschoot

Roger Raveel Museum

Georg Baselitz, Lovis Corinth, Jean Dubuffet, Jean Fautrier, Philip Guston, Asger Jorn, Eugène Leroy, Markus Lüpertz, Constant Permeke, Robert Rauschenberg, Roger Raveel, Wilhelm Sasnal, Koen Van Den Broek i.s.m. Fred Bervoets