The Humor and Wit of Pieter Bruegel the Elder
October 21 - December 11, 2010 (closed Thanksgiving Break)
The Center Art Gallery celebrates the opening of its new facility at the Covenant Fine Arts Center with the inaugural exhibition, The Humor and Wit of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. This exhibition includes thirty-six engravings drawn from a private Midwest collection, celebrating the work of the great 16th-century Netherlandish artist. Central to the exhibition are fourteen works dealing with the seven virtues and vices, as well as others that highlight Bruegel's humanist preoccupation with moralizing humor. In addition to the works he designed, the exhibition also features twelve rarely seen Boschian prints that enhance our understanding of 16th-century printmaking in Antwerp and reveal Bruegel's extensive fascination with Boschian imagery.
Bruegel Photo Gallery
View a selection of prints in the exhibition image gallery.
Bruegel Lecture Series
Wednesday, October 27 - 7pm (Recital Hall)
"How to Make a Mess of Things in the Sixteenth-Century Low Countries"
Bret Rothstein, associate professor of the history of art, Indiana University
Wednesday, November 3 - 7pm (Recital Hall)
"Breaking a Smile from Bosch to Bruegel"
Larry Silver, Farquhar professor of art history, University of Pennsylvannia
Wednesday, November 10 - 7pm (Recital Hall)
"Desert Monks and Medieval Trees: Sources & Developments of the Seven Deadly Sins Tradition"
Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung, professor of philosophy, Calvin College
Wednesday, November 17 - 7pm (Recital Hall)
"The Wit and Wisdom of the Grotesque"
Jim VandenBosch, professor of English, Calvin College
Calvin News Stories
Read the Calvin News & Stories (October 19, 2010) article on the opening of the Bruegel Exhibition and the new gallery entitled: Sins, virtues and a big fish at gallery debut.
Learn more about the opening of the newly renovated Covenant Fine Arts Center in the article entitled: A new front door: CFAC opens at Calvin News & Stories (October 18, 2010).
