www.the-low-countries.com
High Road to Culture in Flanders and the Netherlands
Few people know that the first African-American woman to be honoured with a bust in the US Capitol was a native speaker of Dutch.
Dennis Tyfus cannot be pinned down. Paintings, concerts, tattoo sessions and ‘unforeseeable activities’, the Antwerp-based total artist does it all.
The Netherlands’ most popular mezzo-soprano made opera accessible to millions of people. Before that, she constantly deviated from the well-trodden paths.
The Mauritshuis is displaying art objects that were once stolen by French troops, colonists or Nazis, confronting you with their past and future.
In New York City, the historical memory of Petrus Stuyvesant has recently become controversial, but in the twentieth century, the image of the Dutch director-general of the colony of New Netherland was iconic as a symbol of Dutch-American friendship.
Our selection of recent university press publications in English on the Low Countries.
We dig up the bulbs of the past, trim the stems of historical myth and emerge with a lustrous vase of understanding as to where the tulip came from, how it came into vogue in the Dutch Republic and what place the flower holds today in the Netherlands.
Discover the war-scarred landscape around Ypres by walking along the former line of the trenches.
The premise for Anne Eekhout's fourth novel is a good one: to write Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of 'Frankenstein', out of the shadows of her illustrious context.
Funeral Museum Tot Zover in Amsterdam knows how to surprise with exhibitions that are informative, thought-provoking, touch a sensitive chord and make you laugh.
Using pomp, ceremony and patronage of the arts, an image was created of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, as a wise, just and fair ruler; the “Grand Duke of the West”.
There is quite a bit of confusion surrounding the concept of ‘local,’ particularly in relation to food.
Behind the image of the well-organized Netherlands, a distressing reality is hidden, writer Jonah Falke discovered.
The United States is a rich source of inspiration for Dutch writer Annejet van der Zijl. 'Americans are open to newcomers and interested in history, perhaps because they live in a young country.'
To keep, to remove, or to tuck away in a museum? In his book on statues in the public space, ex-curator Ton Quik does not shy away from the difficult questions.
Will the Dutch language still exist in the future? 'In 2050, Dutch is flourishing like never before. However, it would be more appropriate to refer to it as Dutches in the plural form.'
Thanks to the collection of a German physician, the SieboldHuis in Leiden can provide insight into the daily life of nineteenth-century Japan. But its temporary exhibitions also tie in with current issues.
David Weel invites us to look at 'Dying Adonis' by the painter Hendrick Goltzius.
Bathrobes, fleece blankets, plastic bottle tops, and wooden or steel beams: there’s potential in almost everything Fran Van Coppenolle finds. ‘I do everything I can to take away the gloom.’
Every month, a translator of Dutch into English gives literary tips by answering two questions: which translated book by a Flemish or Dutch author should everyone read? And, which book absolutely deserves an English translation?
‘The Tomb of Mary Burgundy’ is one of the hundred masterpieces of early modern Dutch and Flemish art in the CODART Canon.
From systemic teacher shortages to declining language skills, education in Flanders and the Netherlands faces similar problems. So, what can they learn from each other?
In the late Middle Ages, innovative ideas entered the Roman Catholic Church thanks to a Dutch priest and his Modern Devotion movement, who rejected the materialism and excesses of the clergy.
Teachers and students see that their schools are keeping up with the times. ‘Parents are seeing art education as a good choice.’
Without the Anglo-Dutch diplomat, the history of the United States would have looked different.
The exhibition 'Ode to Antwerp' at Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht explicitly presents old masters from the Low Countries and not from Holland or Flanders.
In this podcast, we take a look at some of the major and minor protest movements that have occurred across the Low Countries, which have helped shape them into the places they are today.
