CODART, Dutch and Flemish art in museums worldwide

Truly Wicked: The Seven Deadly Sins Visualized

19 October 2024 - 12 January 2025

Truly Wicked: The Seven Deadly Sins Visualized

Exhibition: 19 October 2024 - 12 January 2025

The Bonnefanten museum organizes an exhibition on the Seven Deadly Sins – Pride, Sloth, Gluttony, Envy, Anger, Lust and Greed – with works on loan from the Netherlands and abroad. The exhibition explores the creative sixteenth-century depiction of evil, whilst simultaneously serving as inspiration and guidelines for examining the sins of today.

How do you portray the sinful?

Paintings, prints, drawings as well as illuminated manuscripts, books and even stained glass: this exhibition focuses on the depiction of sin in the Low Countries and the Euregion. At the heart of the exhibition is the renowned print series after a design of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Seven Deadly Sins (1558). The museum will surround Bruegel’s work with the series’ precursors and sources of inspiration, works by contemporaries and followers depicting the same themes, and includes accessible, inexpensive mass-produced art along with valuable collectors’ works.

Holding up a mirror

The representations of the Seven Deadly Sins arose in an uncertain, confusing and troubled time, a period astonishingly similar to our own. Bruegel’s era was characterised by climate extremes of very cold winters and bad summers, outbreaks of epidemics and violent outbursts of religious extremism. The exhibition capitalizes on these similarities. During an audio tour, seven narrators such as actor and writer Ramsey Nasr, and singer-songwriter Froukje reflect on contemporary themes from the standpoint of topics of the 16th century.

Unique works on loan from the Netherlands and abroad

This exhibition has been made possible thanks to the generous loan of over 80 different works of art from more than 20 national and international lenders: the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, the Phoebus Foundation in Antwerp, Musée du Louvre in Paris, the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, the Breslau Foundation in New York, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The Bonnefanten presents a surprising mix of top international works and never-before-seen, accessible mass-produced art.

Follower of Hieronymus Bosch, The Last Judgment (Maeterlinck Altarpiece), 1565-1600, Museum Krona, Uden, Photo by Willem Kuijpers

Publication: The Seven Deadly Sins in Bruegel’s Day

In cooperation with Waanders Publishers, a catalogue will be published to accompany the exhibition and will include art historical contributions from Saskia Cohen-Willner, Jip van Reijen, Dorien Tamis and Wendelien van Welie-Vink and a literary essay by Leen Huet.