Summer Course for the Study of the Arts in Flanders

The Summer Course for the Study of the Arts in Flanders is an initiative by the Flemish Art Collection, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Musea Brugge, Mu.ZEE, M Leuven, Ghent University, KU Leuven, the Rubenianum and the Flemish Research Centre for the Arts in the Burgundian Netherlands. KIK/IRPA, KBR, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and the Art & History Museum are content partners. The project is supported by the Kress Foundation.

The aim of the Summer Course each year is to bring to Flanders a select and highly qualified group of no more than 18 researchers (PhD or MA level) at the start of their academic career and offer them an intensive 11-day programme of lectures by experts, seminars, and visits. The theme varies each year, with a focus on a different period of art history each time.

Seven editions

The first edition of the Summer Course took place in 2015, focused on the age of van Eyck in context. Subsequent editions have concentrated on Rubens and the seventeenth century and medieval sculpture, the Fin de Siècle (late 19th and early 20th century), and Bruegel and his era. The sixth edition, which was postponed twice due to the COVID-19 crisis, focused again on the age of Van Eyck. In 2023, we organised the Summer Course on The Age of Rubens.

In 2024 the central theme of the Summer Course will be medieval and renaissance sculpture.

The Summer Course gives participants a clear insight into the Flemish art collections from the period under consideration, the available and appropriate research methods, the field of research, and research needs.

The main language of the Summer Course is English.

It has been a trenchant experience in terms of our own development over time, in conversation with other scholars.

Joseph Albanese, University of California, Berkeley

Participation fee

The full programme of 11 days of lectures, visits, seminars, transport between locations, some lunches and dinners and overnight stays is offered at an affordable price. Participants pay their own transport costs to Belgium.

How to apply?

Each year, we announce a call for applications. Candidates are asked to send a resume, an application letter and a letter of recommendation from a faculty member.

Candidates for financial aid are also asked to send a statement explaining their financial need.

Upcoming

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