Berlinde De Bruyckere. It almost seemed a lily

Museum Hof van Busleyden - 15 December 2018 to 12 May 2019

Contemporary artist Berlinde De Bruyckere (°born in1964, Ghent) encountered the remarkable Enclosed Gardens for the first time in 2016. The fragility and beauty of these sixteenth-century altarpiece cabinets captivated her immediately. The hundreds of delicately crafted silk flowers in various stages of growth and decay reminded her of the withered lilies she had meticulously photographed in these different stages at home. To De Bruyckere the fallen petals resemble the delicate human skin, a theme that frequently appears in her work.

The flower took on a central role in the series, It Almost Seemed a Lily, which the artist began in 2017. The Lily carries many religious interpretations but in ancient mythology it is often also used as a metaphor. De Bruyckere borrowed the title of the series from the myth of Apollo and Hyacinthus from Ovid's Metamorphoses.

With this exhibition at Museum Hof van Busleyden, De Bruyckere brought the series in dialogue with the unique collection of Enclosed Gardens, which hold a permanent place in the museum as masterpieces. These enclosed gardens symbolise a sanctuary, a miniature paradise shielded from the influences of the outside world. Through their texture, the lilies in De Bruyckere's series convey both tenderness and rawness. The series of sculptures in textile, iron and wax are framed by 18th-century oak floorboards from the artist’s home, marked by the footprints of centuries past. Each element in De Bruckere's cabinets holds special significance and together they create a new narrative, one that touches on the past and the future, and on beauty and decay.

It Almost Seemed a Lily was Berlinde De Bruyckere's first solo exhibition in Belgium since 2014. Some works from the series had previously been displayed at Palazzo Fortuny during the Venice Biennale, Art Basel, Manifesta and the Sara Hildén Art Museum (Finland).

Curator of It almost seemed a lily

Berlinde De Bruyckere and studio

Publication of It almost seemed a lily

Further to this exhibition, the art book ‘It Almost Seemed a Lily’ was published by Uitgeverij Hannibal.

Expo Partners

Exhibition in collaboration with KU Leuven, with the support of the King Baudouin Foundation Fund Baillet-Latour.