Antwerp will mark the 450th anniversary of Peter Paul Rubens’s birth in 2027 with exhibitions, concerts, contemporary art and public events across the city.
The celebrations will also extend into the urban landscape, with new street art works in the city centre that will remain in place after the anniversary year.
One of the main attractions will be Rubens Meets, an exhibition running from September 2027 to January 2028 across four Antwerp churches. Contemporary artists Berlinde De Bruyckere, Tracey Emin and Luc Tuymans will present works in dialogue with Rubens.
From October, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, or KMSKA, will host Rubens and the World, an exhibition exploring the international influences on the baroque painter’s art.
The Plantin-Moretus Museum will also take part in the programme. In Spring, it will spotlight overlooked artists from Rubens’s time.
In Autumn, the museum will stage an exhibition on Antwerp cartographer Abraham Ortelius, whose 500th birth anniversary also falls in 2027. The Snijders&Rockoxhuis will present an exhibition devoted to a lost notebook by Rubens.
On 18 June, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra will perform a new composition by Bohdana Frolyak in the Cathedral of Our Lady. The work is inspired by four paintings by Rubens.
At KMSKA, visitors will also be able to follow the restoration of The Adoration of the Magi until Summer 2027.
Throughout the year, the Rubens House will organise four evenings combining music, talks and workshops, including a special edition on 26 June to mark the artist’s birthday.
Rubens’s historic home itself will remain closed during the anniversary year because of restoration works. It is not expected to reopen before 2030.
The renovated garden, library and Rubens Experience visitor centre will, however, remain open.
