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On 19 November, the opening of the exhibition "Impressions and Parallels. Belgian and Latvian Painting from the Collections of the Latvian National Museum of Art and the Fine Arts Museum of Liège" will take place in the Fine Arts Museum of Liège (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Liège); while on 21 November, an exhibition named "Impressions and Parallels. La Louvière – Riga" will be opened in the Ianchelevici Museum (Musée Ianchelevici) in the city of La Louvière.
Last November, a large exhibition "Impressions and Parallels. Belgian and Latvian painting from the collection of the Latvian National Museum of Art. First half of the 20th century" opened in the Riga Bourse Art Museum. Paintings by Isidore Opsomer, Albert Saverys, Valerius de Saedeleer, and other notable Belgian authors were on show alongside the works by Latvian artists from the beginning of the 20th century, Jānis Tīdemanis Kārlis Padegs, Ģederts Eliass, Leo Svemps, Eduards Kalniņš, and others. In Liège, the selection of Belgian and Latvian paintings that were on show in Riga will be varied with the addition of works from the collection of the Fine Arts Museum of Liège. It will be as a surprise for the Belgian visitors who often do not realise how the art of both countries is connected.
Furthermore, works by the Wallonian artists' group Nervia from both partner museum collections will be on show at the Ianchelevici Museum. At the same time, Belgian art classics will be engaged in a dialogue with representative works from Latvian contemporary artists – Krišs Salmanis, Vilnis Zābers, Monika Pormale, Kristīne Kursiša, Andrejs Grants and others. The curator of the museum Valérie Formery has tried to display works by Latvian artists that would answer the question "What does intimacy, serenity, humanity and idealism mean today?" In order to share their reflections on this theme, Latvian artists Andris Eglītis, Ivars Drulle and Kristaps Ģelzis will take part in the opening of the exhibition.
In the late 1920s, Belgium influence shone through in the Latvian art increasing its role in the 1930s and creating the "Belgian fashion" among Latvian painters. The presence of Belgian culture in the Latvian art has not disappeared even a century later as many artists go to study, work and live in Belgium. For example, there will be works by the artist Ieva Epnere in the exhibition who has studied in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent and worked at "Contretype" residence.
Before the exhibition opening in the Fine Arts Museum of Liège on 19 November, Latvian ex-president Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga will give a reading "Europe – a fight ring or our collective home" and the professor of the University of Liège (Université de Liège) Francis Balace will read his report "Latvia – from national revival to Europe".
The exhibition in Liège will be on display until 1 February 2015, and the exhibition in La Louvière will be on show until 8 February 2015.
Both exhibitions are created in cooperation between Latvian National Museum of Art, Fine Arts Museum of Liège, Ianchelevici Museum in La Louvière, the Embassy of Latvia in Belgium and the Secretariat of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The Presidency gives Latvia an opportunity not only to influence the political decision-making process in the EU but also to prove the competitiveness of Latvian traditional and modern culture. The aim of the cultural programme of the Presidency is to demonstrate the contemporary culture, the artistic excellence and the uniqueness of our world-view.
