In Search of Utopia
–Leuven, Belgium
Organisation: City of Leuven and KU Leuven
Organised by the M-Museum to mark the fifth centenary of the publication of Sir Thomas More's Utopia in Leuven in 1516. It has to be one of the best exhibitions of 2016.
No fewer than eighty masterpieces are waiting for you at M - Museum Leuven's unique and extraordinary exhibition: In Search of Utopia. It is inspired by Thomas More, the humanist, statesman and author of the book Utopia, an iconic work that was first published in Leuven exactly 500 years ago by the printer Dirk Martens.
The desire and search for Utopia resulted in a wave of creative highpoints in painting, tapestry weaving, mapmaking and the development of scientific instruments. All the great masters of Thomas More's day will be represented by masterpieces from their oeuvres. In Search of Utopia is a unique opportunity to see the best of Quinten Metsys, Jan Gossaert, Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein and many others in one exhibition. There will even be a showpiece from the collection of Queen Elisabeth II!
But In Search of Utopia will also take you back to the sixteenth century to reflect on the current realities of 2016.