About

This series of talks takes us on an imaginary journey down the Rhine, exploring artists and artworks connected to the region. Beginning in the Netherlands, we’ll examine the work of two of the Dutch masters, Vincent van Gogh and Johannes Vermeer.

Passing through Germany, we’ll stop at Brühl and Cologne, cities linked to the German surrealist Max Ernst. From Cologne, we’ll travel to Koblenz, retracing a journey once taken by J M W Turner.

Finally, arriving in France, we’ll stop at Strasbourg, the birthplace of the abstract artist Jean Arp, before making our way to the Musée Unterlinden, home to the Isenheim Altarpiece, a masterpiece of the Northern Renaissance.

This talk examines the Northen Renaissance, which differed greatly from its Southern counterpart. It considers the invention of oil paint, the rise of realism and the birth of landscape and genre art, while looking at specific artworks by the likes of Albrecht Dürer, Jan Van Eyck and Matthias Grünwald.

Tutor: Dr Simon Marginson - an independent art historian and curatorial researcher. He specialises in twentieth-century art and has published on various aspects of British and European modernism.