Hugo van der Goes (c. 1440-1482/83) was one of the most important European painters of the early modern period. His monumental, emotionally expressive, yet also intimate depictions are among the highlights of their respective collections. Yet unlike most other great artists of his era, no mnographic exhibition has ever been dedicated to this Flemish master. The Berlin Gemäldegalerie has now brought together the majority of his surviving works for the first time. To mark the end of the special exhibition “Hugo van der Goes. Between Pain and Bliss” (31 March – 16 July, 2023), the Gemäldegalerie and the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museumsverein are organizing an international colloquium on 14–15 July, 2023.

Registration is possible on the website of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin:
https://kaiser-friedrich-museumsverein.de/veranstaltungen/colloquium/

Preliminary colloquium programm:

FRIDAY, 14 JULY 2023

10:30 – 11:00 – Registration and Coffee

11:00 – 11:30
Dagmar Hirschfelder
Welcome

Stephan Kemperdick
Introduction to the exhibition Hugo van der Goes. Between Pain and Bliss

11:30 – 13:00
Jan Dumolyn
Did Hugo van der Goes Come from Holland? Sources and Arguments

Leen Bervoets
Patronage of Hugo van der Goes in Perspective: Exceptional or Congruent?

Erik Eising
Hugo van Der Goes: New Suggestions on His Artistic Sources, Based on the Vienna Diptych

13:00 – 14:30 – Lunch

14:30 – 16:00
Bernhard Ridderbos
The Dating of the Portinari Altarpiece

Noël Geirnaert
The Death of the Virgin by Hugo van Der Goes: Who Commissioned It and What Was Its Function?

Lorne Campbell
The Trinity Panels and the Ghent Altarpiece

16:00 – 16:30 – Coffee break

16:30 – 18:00
Catherine Reynolds
The Trinity, the Virgin, St Ninian and All Saints: Evidence for Reconstructing the Centre Panel of van der Goes’s Trinity Altarpiece

Sven Van Dorst & Niels Schalley
Scanning The Descent from the Cross, a Tüchlein Masterpiece from the Collection of The Phoebus Foundation. New Scientific Insights on Hugo van der Goes’ Distemper Painting Technique

Griet Steyaert
The Restoration of the Death of the Virgin by Hugo van der Goes, Retrieved Traces of Original Elements and the Reconstruction of the Losses

18:15 – 19:30
Exclusive visit to the exhibition Hugo van der Goes. Between Pain and Bliss

SATURDAY, 15 JULY 2023

10:00 – 10:30 – Registration and Coffee

10:30 – 12:00
Stephan Kemperdick
The Monforte Altarpiece, Its Possible Patron and the Habsburgs

Melis Avkiran
„maior in persona, et ethiops niger“: Encountering the Black King in Hugo van der Goes’ Monforte Altarpiece

Suzanne Laemers
In the Privacy of Friedländer’s Pocketbook

12:00 – 13:00 – Lunch

13:00 – 14:30
Johanna Bork
Curtain, Requisite and Audience. Hugo van der Goes’ Adoration of the Shepherds and further Stage Metaphors

Elliot Adam & Sophie Caron
Reconsidering the Reception of Hugo van Der Goes in France: Jean and Pierre Changenet

Till-Holger Borchert
Simon Marmion and Hugo van der Goes – Any Connection?