26 September - 29 March 2027

Garden of Delights – The 17th Century in Bloom

Starting 26 September 2026, Museum De Lakenhal and The Phoebus Foundation present the exhibition Garden of Delights – The 17th Century in Bloom by The Phoebus Foundation. In an impressive immersive experience, a world unfolds where art, nature, and imagination converge. The spectacular scenography is created by Antwerp-based fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck.

Highlights

Featuring paintings and objects from the collection of The Phoebus Foundation, including a veritable cabinet of curiosities, the exhibition shows how flowers in the seventeenth century symbolized beauty, science, desire, and transience. Highlights by artists such as Jan Brueghel the Elder, Clara Peeters, Anna Maria Janssens, and Jan Davidsz. De Heem take you on a journey through exuberant bouquets, exorbitantly priced tulips, swarming insects, and wondrous curiosities. What starts as an ode to creation gradually unfolds into a story of curiosity, trade, experimentation, and human desires.

Walter Van Beirendonck

Thanks to the scenography by Antwerp-based fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck, a dialogue emerges between seventeenth-century art and contemporary fashion and design, all centered around a floral theme. Think of oversized flowers, specially designed carpets, and creations by Viktor&Rolf, Dries Van Noten, Comme des Garçons, Richard Quinn, and Van Beirendonck. One of the exhibition’s highlights is a cabinet of wonders inspired by 16th-century cabinets of curiosities, complete with extraordinary natural history objects and unexpected curiosities. Thus, Garden of Delights – The 17th Century in Bloom is not only an exhibition about flowers, but also about collecting, observing, and marveling.

The Phoebus Foundation

Garden of Delights – The 17th Century in Bloom is an exhibition by The Phoebus Foundation, curated by Dr. Katharina Van Cauteren. The exhibition is the result of years of research led by Sven Van Dorst, head of the restoration studio. Numerous floral still lifes were analyzed for their materials. This yielded remarkable discoveries: hidden compositions beneath layers of paint, painted insects incorporating real butterfly wings, and innovative painting techniques that only became fully visible centuries later. The results of this research can be found in the exhibition and the accompanying publication Forever Flowers - Mastery and Meaning of Flower Paintings in the Low Countries (1600-1700), available through Hannibal Books and at the museum shop during the exhibition.