For many years Expat Club has been organising guided visits to museum and exhibition. Our intention is to increase this number over the next few months. So you can expect us to go to all major museums and exhibitions! We recently visited the Guggenheim exhibition in the ING Art Center and for today we have selected another world-class one: Ukiyo-e! Hurry, because it is almost the last chance to do so. We are namely seeing it in one of the extra final weekends!
Did you know that the Cinquantenaire Museum owns one of the finest collections of Japanese prints in the world? These gems have leave the museum depot to shine on a prestigious exhibition in Belgium, for the first time since Europalia Japan (1989). Japanese courtesans, samurai, Mount Fuji… Discover all the iconic elements of Japanese culture that inspired the artists of the Land of the Rising Sun. You will be in the company of renowned names such as Hokusai, creator of the world’s most famous Wave.
The Japanese term ukiyo-e means literally “pictures of the floating world”. The term “floating world” (ukiyo) originates in Buddhism, and refers to earthly life characterised by suffering and transitoriness. Over time, this negative connotation disappeared and since the 17th century the term ukiyo has been synonymous with a world of fleeting pleasures. It is this hedonistic meaning that is paired with the suffix e (“picture”) in the term ukiyo-e.
Although ukiyo-e originally referred to painting, nowadays it is associated with traditional printmaking. Traditional wood engraving, or xylography, experienced a spectacular rise in popularity in the 17th century when commercial production evolved to satisfy an growing wealthy middle-class clientele in Edo (present-day Tokyo), seat of the Shogun court. Initially, the most popular subjects depicted were feminine beauty and kabuki actors.
In light of the exhibition Ukiyo-e, about forty of the illustrator and comic book author Dimitri Piot’s drawings will be put on show as well as a few cases displaying several studies showing his creative process. Among these there will be an original series set in Brussels, especially made within the context of 150 years of friendship and economic relations between Belgium and Japan.
Our visit
We meet at 10h45 at the entrance of the museum. Your host Stefania will be waiting for you there with an Expat Club logo. We have hired an expert on this Japanese art who will guide us around for one hour. Your entrance ticket (€15) is arranged already, so you only have to show up and fully enjoy the tour. Expat Club has its own professional digital and private audio guide system. This means you can listen to the guide without standing close to him or her and without being bothered with noise of other visitors. This ads significantly to the tour experience.
For many years Expat Club has been organising guided visits to museum and exhibition. Our intention is to increase this number over the next few months. So you can expect us to go to all major museums and exhibitions! We recently visited the Guggenheim exhibition in the ING Art Center and for today we have selected another world-class one: Ukiyo-e! Hurry, because it is almost the last chance to do so. We are namely seeing it in one of the extra final weekends!
Did you know that the Cinquantenaire Museum owns one of the finest collections of Japanese prints in the world? These gems have leave the museum depot to shine on a prestigious exhibition in Belgium, for the first time since Europalia Japan (1989). Japanese courtesans, samurai, Mount Fuji… Discover all the iconic elements of Japanese culture that inspired the artists of the Land of the Rising Sun. You will be in the company of renowned names such as Hokusai, creator of the world’s most famous Wave.
The Japanese term ukiyo-e means literally “pictures of the floating world”. The term “floating world” (ukiyo) originates in Buddhism, and refers to earthly life characterised by suffering and transitoriness. Over time, this negative connotation disappeared and since the 17th century the term ukiyo has been synonymous with a world of fleeting pleasures. It is this hedonistic meaning that is paired with the suffix e (“picture”) in the term ukiyo-e.
Although ukiyo-e originally referred to painting, nowadays it is associated with traditional printmaking. Traditional wood engraving, or xylography, experienced a spectacular rise in popularity in the 17th century when commercial production evolved to satisfy an growing wealthy middle-class clientele in Edo (present-day Tokyo), seat of the Shogun court. Initially, the most popular subjects depicted were feminine beauty and kabuki actors.
In light of the exhibition Ukiyo-e, about forty of the illustrator and comic book author Dimitri Piot’s drawings will be put on show as well as a few cases displaying several studies showing his creative process. Among these there will be an original series set in Brussels, especially made within the context of 150 years of friendship and economic relations between Belgium and Japan.
Our visit
We meet at 10h45 at the entrance of the museum. Your host Stefania will be waiting for you there with an Expat Club logo. We have hired an expert on this Japanese art who will guide us around for one hour. Your entrance ticket (€15) is arranged already, so you only have to show up and fully enjoy the tour. Expat Club has its own professional digital and private audio guide system. This means you can listen to the guide without standing close to him or her and without being bothered with noise of other visitors. This ads significantly to the tour experience.
