Over the 225-year history of the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent, and during the 125 years of the Friends of the Museum, the MSK has established close ties with countless private art lovers.
The museum has acquired some of its most prestigious works of art through donations, gifts and legacies from collectors. It is very grateful to those who have been so generous, and to those who continue to provide substantial support today. The exhibition ‘Among friends’ spotlights these close friendships.
In this exceptional exhibition, dozens of works that usually reside in a private setting are now on show alongside related works from the museum’s own collection. Now seen together, the works hop and skip between the past and the future, with a diverse range of collectors and their various styles of collecting art determining both the rules of the game and its playing field.
‘Among friends’ presents an eclectic yet stunning mix of art dating from the mid-14th century to around 1960, and elicits a dialogue between familiar and hidden collections that enhances both.
The exhibition includes works by Pierre Alechinsky, Karel Appel, Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Raoul De Keyser, Roelant Savery, Fernand Khnopff, Auguste Rodin, Frans Snijders, Félicien Rops, Peter Paul Rubens, László Moholy-Nagy, Frits Van den Berghe, Léon Spilliaert, Medardo Rosso, Théo Van Rysselberghe and Hans Hartung.
Main Image :Albijn Van den Abeele, Corner of the Forest, ca 1914-15. Private collection