14.03.24, 20:00, (Full) Luc Tuymans

Please note: reservations are required for this lecture.

As one of the most well-known artists in Belgium, painter Luc Tuymans really needs no introduction. With his ability to address historical and political themes in a subtle and provocative way, Tuymans has gained world fame.

With his recognisable style, limited colour palette and strong emphasis on subject matter, he tackles a wide range of themes. Politics, history, memory, identity and social issues are approached through subjects such as the Holocaust, colonial history, bureaucracy and the tensions between the individual and society. These historical and political topics are approached in a subtle and provocative way, examining and questioning the obviousness of historical events. Tuymans finds his inspiration in existing images, such as photographs and film stills, which he reinterprets and processes.

Through painting, Tuymans questions the veracity of our memories and the complexity of human experience. Through this, Tuymans has had a lasting influence on contemporary painting.

Luc Tuymans has had numerous important exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world. Some of his most notable exhibitions include participating in "Jan Hoet’s" documenta IX in 1992, which brought him international acclaim, and representing Belgium at the Venice Biennale in 2001.

Worldwide, retrospectives around his work have been organised from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Modern in London, to the S.M.A.K. in Ghent and the Wiels in Brussels. In 2019, the Palazzo Grassi in Venice organised a retrospective featuring 80 paintings by Tuymans from 1986-2019. This was undoubtedly the most comprehensive retrospective exhibition the artist has had to date.