The Birth of Capitalism
The Golden age of Flanders 17 June 2016 - 1 January 2017
‘The Birth of Capitalism’ is a narrative exhibition about the cultural and economic growth of the Southern Netherlands in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Today’s world is the product of the Middle Ages. For it’s around 1200, in what is now called Flanders, that a new man starts to emerge. An enterprising man; practical, innovative. A critical man, who dares to question the status quo. A man who, thanks to his entrepreneurial spirit, becomes powerful and prosperous.
The Birth of Capitalism tells the story of this new man. With him you can relive the glorious heyday of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Explore a world of extraordinary fascination with ingenious discoveries, and tread the path of foolish sinfulness. Discover what our new man’s creature comforts and animal pleasures are. Learn how he balances between ambition and fear, daring and folly.
The enterprising man lives in the cities of the Low Countries. Thanks to trade and entrepreneurship those communities become centres of economic power that support a flourishing art industry. Artistic products from Flanders and Brabant conquer the world market. Paintings, sculptures, tapestries, altarpieces, illuminated manuscripts... all passionately sought after and frantically exported. Art from the Low Countries becomes a quality label, an international standard.
The exhibition brings together an exceptional selection of these masterpieces. The Birth of Capitalism is a compilation of magnificent objects from renowned museums, archives, libraries and private collections, many of them on public display for the very first time.
