Taiwan’s Chimei Museum prepares exhibition of Flemish and Dutch art

台灣奇美博物館籌備佛蘭德與荷蘭藝術展

Tainan museum selects 60 works from collection to showcase 16th and 17th century painters


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Chimei Museum in Tainan announced its next exhibition “Painters' Tales of the Low Countries: Flemish and Dutch Paintings” will run from Oct. 26 to Aug. 31, 2025.

The exhibition features 60 paintings selected from the museum collection, representing a historic era of painting from the 16th and 17th centuries. The Netherlands was a location where trade and economy flourished leading to a prosperous middle class, per CNA.

Growing prosperity meant that art collecting was no longer the exclusive domain of the royal family. With more patrons and art buyers in the middle class, Dutch and Flemish artists were given more freedom to experiment with their paintings, including realism and depictions of everyday life.

The exhibition aims to give viewers a window into the past, venturing inside the artists' studios more than 400 years ago through scientific analysis and deciphering underlying layers of paintings. The museum used technologies such as microscopic observation, ultraviolet inspection, infrared imaging, and X-ray photography.

Visitors can view the technical secrets underlying each painting, allowing them to peer inside the art, and uncover clues to the secrets of the painters’ artistic creation process.

The paintings range from religious imagery, portraits, customs, still life, and landscapes. Aside from a technical and scientific view, historical background, and research are also presented, allowing each viewer to understand the artwork.

The Chimei Museum will host an opening preview for the exhibition on Oct. 25. A curatorial team from the museum will conduct an on-site tour and provide a limited number of gifts to the public.