Berlinde De Bruyckere
° 1964
Lives in Ghent (BE), born in Ghent (BE).
Berlinde De Bruyckere (°1964) makes three-dimensional sculptures, installations and aquarelles. Her older work has a minimalist character. Steel, stone and glass were her materials of choice. Gradually she leaves abstract motifs to seek recourse in recognisable forms and things, introducing the blanket, malleable lead and straw as materials.
More recently, she has extended her personal iconography with striking sculptures of (stuffed) horses and giant (once-) cuddly animals. The beauty of the materials she uses always has something of the fatal in it. The blankets in her sculptures protect and suffocate, the lead roses seduce and poison, the carpet of begonias bear witness to bloom and decay. She intentionally uses familiar forms to inspire thinking in viewers, to provide them with memories. Her preference lies with materials and forms that mirror ambiguity, something characteristic of the human experience. Beneath the delicate and sometimes deceptively endearing skin of her work is a yawning abyss. Death, fear and loneliness are recurrent themes, though never disconnected from life, love and beauty. Despite the great formal diversity of her works, there is a common thread running throughout her oeuvre in terms of choice of materials, techniques and the repeating of symbols and motifs.
Aside from her three-dimensional works, the artist has also always put her ideas on paper. These works (drawings and aquarelles, or aquarelle and gouache combined on old paper or cardboard) are often preparatory material for the sculptures but are autonomous works in themselves. Berlinde De Bruyckere does not impose ‘the’ interpretation of her works. She consciously leaves the door open for diverse understandings.
>Berlinde De Bruyckere, Zonder titel (5), 1994.Drawing, gouache, watercolour, cardboard, 44 x 28 cm.
>Berlinde De Bruyckere, Zonder titel (16), 1994.Drawing, cardboard, gouache, aquarel, 393 x 275 mm.
>Berlinde De Bruyckere, Zonder titel (9), 1994.Drawing, cardboard, gouache, aquarel, 390 x 270 mm.
>Berlinde De Bruyckere, Zonder titel (2), 1994.Drawing, cardboard, gouache, aquarel, 440 x 280 mm.
>Berlinde De Bruyckere, Zonder titel (3), 1994.Drawing, cardboard, gouache, aquarel, 445 x 285 mm.
>Berlinde De Bruyckere, Zonder titel (1), 1994.Drawing, cardboard, gouache, aquarel, 280 x 440 cm.
>Berlinde De Bruyckere, Vrouw in Boom, 1995.Drawing, cardboard, gouache, aquarel, 390 x 270 mm.
>Berlinde De Bruyckere, Spreken [To Speak], 1999.Installation, metal, wood, blankets, polyester, polyurethane, 200 x 140 x 80 cm.
>Berlinde De Bruyckere, Berlinde De Bruyckere - en alles is aanééngenaaid, 2000.Book, ink, paper, 50 x 34,5 cm, loose-leaf publication, language : Dutch, English, publisher : Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, ISBN : 90-72828-3024.
>Berlinde De Bruyckere, In Flanders Fields, 2000.Installation, horse skin, polyester, metal, plastic, blankets, variable dimensions.
Exhibitions & Ensembles
> Exhibition: A Story of the Image: Old & New Masters from Antwerp (Singapore). 13 August 2009 - 06 September 2009.
> Exhibition: Berlinde de Bruyckere – and everything is stitched-together. 21 January 2001 - 29 April 2001.
> Exhibition: ENCLOSED. 21 May 2021 - 03 October 2021.
> Exhibition: EXTRA MUROS: Geel – Middle Gate II – The Story of Dymphna. 15 September 2018 - 04 November 2018.
> Exhibition: EXTRA MUROS: Visite Diest. 27 November 2014 - 21 December 2014.
> Exhibition: EXTRA MUROS: Visite Genk - Genkenaren kiezen kunst. 02 July 2014 - 31 August 2014.
> Exhibition: Sanguine/Bloedrood. Luc Tuymans on Baroque. 01 June 2018 - 16 September 2018.
> Exhibition: The Collection XIX – A Story of the Image (Jubilee). 31 May 2007 - 19 August 2007.
> Exhibition: The collection XXI – Winter 2007. 01 December 2007 - 09 March 2008.
> Exhibition: The collection XXXIII – The Collection as a Character. 07 June 2013 - 22 September 2013.
> Exhibition: Visite - Kunstenparcours 'Touching Textiles'. 28 September 2013 - 13 October 2013.
> Exhibition: When Faith Moves Mountains. 17 July 2022 - 09 October 2022.
> Exhibition: Worth Fighting For. 14 November 2022 - 14 December 2022.
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> Ensemble: A Historical Landscape of War.
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> Ensemble: Benedenverdieping | Ground Floor.
> Ensemble: Collectie Vlaamse Gemeenschap.
> Ensemble: M HKA_DEFAULT_PUBLICATIONS.
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> Ensemble: M HKA_DEFAULT_WORKS.
> Ensemble: Middle Gate.
> Ensemble: MIGRATIE | MIGRATION.
> Ensemble: NUCLEUS.
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> Ensemble: To Speak.
> Ensemble: Worth Fighting For.