Leading Belgian photographer Stephan Vanfleteren let himself be inspired by the paintings in the Mauritshuis. This has resulted in sixteen works, fifteen of which are new, one for each room of the Mauritshuis. In Pentimenti – Stephan Vanfleteren Among the Masters, they hang, stand and lie among their centuries-old sources of inspiration. What traces were left by mistakes (‘pentimenti’ in Italian), not just in painting, but also in world history, in our human lives? Look through Stephan Vanfleteren’s lens to discover a new perspective on Vermeer, Rembrandt and the other masters of the Mauritshuis.
Attention: Just like the seventeenth-century masters, Vanfleteren does not shy away from depicting death and mortality. When planning your visit, please bear in mind that some images may be upsetting for some visitors.
From inspiration to final photo
Martine Gosselink, director of the Mauritshuis, invited Vanfleteren to view and reinterpret the collection of the Mauritshuis. Together they roamed the museum, talking and searching. Stephan Vanfleteren then let himself be inspired by one work or specific theme in every room. Sometimes his photo complements a painting, at other times the link with the painting is not so clear, or he drew inspiration from an entire room. But all the works make you look again. The photos take the paintings from the past to the present. Perhaps you can see them better than ever.
Stephan Vanfleteren
For twenty years, the Belgian Stephan Vanfleteren (Kortrijk, 1969) has been one of the finest photographers in Belgium and The Netherlands. Intensity is his trademark, whether he is creating portraits - raw, sharp, and almost exclusively in black and white - probing the depths of the sea, or documenting dead animals.
Fascinated by the contrast between lightness and gravity, he pushes himself to the limit for his images. This has earned him several awards, both at home and abroad.
A book in letters
The exhibition is accompanied by a special book. During the two-year creative process, Stephan Vanfleteren and Martine Gosselink wrote to each other. Their letters have been collected in the volume Pentimenti – Letters on pigment, light and consolation. This is a personal conversation between a man and a woman, Flemish and Dutch, creator and director, who keep each other sharp, ask questions and connect art and history with events around the world and in their surroundings. Pentimenti reoccur throughout the book as a motif, both as the corrections artists made while painting and as rectifying mistakes in their own personal lives. But Pentimenti – Letters on pigment, light and consolation also reads like a sign of the times-book in which great universal life questions are projected on to this decade of the 21st century.
