Being a curator entails not only having substantial knowledge about and caring for the collection under your supervision, it also involves making choices. What do you show and which narrative do you tell? With the CODART Canon the members of CODART will present a selection from the extensive and diverse range of early modern Dutch and Flemish art that is disseminated throughout the world. In making the CODART Canon we aim to highlight what the curator does and to stimulate discussion about the profession and about art.

Today we give the green light. Starting now members can vote. We will select 100 masterpieces of Dutch and Flemish art from across the CODART spectrum: paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, and decorative arts from the period ca. 1350-1750. Aesthetic highlights, crucial masterpieces, and striking outliers that are of great importance to art history. 100 highlights that in sum provide an impressive overview of early modern Dutch and Flemish art. An overview, but not a complete survey. That would be impossible – too many beautiful artworks have been made to achieve that.

On Monday, 18 November, following the close of voting we will present the Canon during a public symposium in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. After the presentation we will open up the voting to non-members. From this moment everyone can cast his or her vote. What will the differences be between the curators’ choices and those of the general public?

Find more information and follow the compilation of the CODART Canon on canon.codart.nl, or follow the developments via the new CODART Instagram account and on Facebook. Join the discussion!