GHENT.- The work of more than 100 international artists and designers in all disciplines is being featured in KLEUREYCK. Van Eyck's Colours in Design, a major exhibition at Design Museum Gent running through 6 September 2020, as one of the highlights of a year celebrating Van Eyck in Ghent in 2020.

The exhibition features the work of more than 100 Belgian and international contemporary artists and designers. Taking as their inspiration Van Eyck’s revolutionary use of colour in his paintings, 11 designers, some working in cross disciplinary groups, have been invited to create installations and collaborations specially for the museum. These works are being shown alongside important research into the nature and effect of colour. The exhibition culminates in a Pigment Walk, featuring 13 colour and materials groups with 100 carefully selected objects, inspired by the universe of pigments which were used in Van Eyck’s masterpiece, the Ghent Altarpiece. The exhibition also features selected works from the museum’s own extensive collections.

Among the featured artists and designers are:




Anish Kapoor, UK (Vantablack) • Hella Jongerius Lab, Netherlands (Colourful black) • Atelier NL, Netherlands (ochres) • Studio Plastique, Belgium, in collaboration with Wonderglass, Italy (indigo blue) • Anton Alvarez, Sweden (IKB, International Klein Blue) • Nendo, Japan (Light blue) • Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, France (green) • Sigve Knutson, Sweden (green) • Fernando Laposse, Mexico (cochineal pink) • Andrés Reisinger, Spain (pink) • Kevin Rouff, USA (Red Mud) • Muller Van Severen, Belgium (red) • Max Lamb, UK (dark red) • Juliette Clovis, France (white) • Touche-Touche, Belgium (yellow) • Tinus Vermeersch, Belgium (gold) • Studio Truly Truly, Netherlands (orange) • Sabine Marcelis, UK (gold-orange) • Faye Toogood, UK (earth brown) • Audrey Large, France (iridescent pink/purple) • David Bielander, Switzerland (silver) • Patricia Urquiola, Italy (multicolour) • Christien Meindertsma, Netherlands (multicolour) • Atelier lachaert dhanis, Belgium (multicolour)

Speaking about the exhibition Siegrid Demyttenaere, curator, said: “Jan van Eyck not only painted with his feeling and artistic approach but also with knowledge. He knew about physics, chemistry and perspective. He painted with light. The commissioned designers in this exhibition were all invited to Ghent to visit the restoration of the Ghent Altarpiece by Van Eyck, to be inspired by this masterpiece. With this exhibition I wanted to show the layered nature of the design process so that visitors can see that design is much more than creating an object: research, knowledge, technique, talent, team work all have to come together to create the final result.”

Design Museum Gent is the only museum in Belgium with an extensive international design collection. The museum complex, situated in the historic heart of Ghent, comprises an imposing 18th-century mansion and a modern wing. The museum possesses a comprehensive collection of Belgian design, as well as work by leading international designers, ranging from the Art Nouveau of Henry van de Velde to contemporary avant-garde design.

The exhibition is co-produced with lille3000 and Lille Métropole 2020 World Design Capital. Curators: Siegrid Demyttenaere with co-curator Sofie Lachaert.