Culture in Ghent won’t leave anyone unsatisfied. There are plenty of things to experience, to try, to see and to hear. And to write about, as proves this blog selection with news and reviews of concerts, exhibitions, performing arts and more. Not a day goes by in Ghent without a cultural event or festival taking place – or you will have to look for one anyway. 

  • The naked truth about Adam and Eve

    And then there you are, face to face with the naked Adam and Eve. They’re painted in exquisite detail, right down to Adam’s curly chest hair. Few characters on the Ghent Altarpiece capture the imagination quite like they do. But how did people in Van Eyck’s time view them? And in the following decades?
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    Open book with an image of Eve on the right page as depicted on the Ghent Altarpiece in Ghent

  • The new old lamb

    Large swathes of the Ghent Altarpiece had been painted over. That took place several times in the centuries after Van Eyck. Even the lamb got a facelift. It now looks us in straight in the eye once again, like it was originally intended. But why did subsequent generations decide to make alterations to this masterpiece?
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    Professor Maximilian Martens in his studio between various paintings

  • Van Eyck: seeing is believing

    How can mortals ever truly perceive God? This is a theological discussion people had been having for centuries in Van Eyck’s time. The artist himself attempted to answer this question through his art. He had a vision like no other and converted it into in oil paintings. But before we talk about this in more detail, we need to talk about something else first. Ghentians of that time never saw the Ghent Altarpiece the way we do today.
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    The Mystic Lamb in St Bavo's Cathedral