Exhibition - At the moment

HildeGARDEN
From 30 May

With the opening of HildeGARDEN, the Snijders&Rockoxhuis presents a new focus display dedicated to the beauty of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century flower still lifes. This permanent, dynamic presentation brings exceptional loans into direct dialogue with recognized masterpieces from the museum’s own collection, while also serving as a lasting tribute to Hildegard Van de Velde as she retires as honorary curator.

A fresh presentation

The small city garden of Nicolaas Rockox remains a hidden gem in the heart of Antwerp. Twenty years ago, the garden was revived based on thorough research, and today it still offers a surprising oasis of tranquillity.

Building on this, HildeGARDEN unfolds as a vibrant counterpart, placing painted flora centre stage. Eye-catchers include colourful floral compositions by artists such as Anna Maria van Thielen (Hof van Busleyden), Jan van Kessel (Museum Mayer van den Bergh) and Judith Leyster (King Baudouin Foundation). These works enter into dialogue with a strong ensemble from the museum’s own collection, including Flemish Masterpieces by Osias Beert and Jan Fyt.

And, like a garden that evolves with the seasons, this display will remain dynamic, with regular new accents made possible by the network of lending partners that Hildegard Van de Velde has built over the past decades.

The Snijders&Rockox House

Nicolaas Rockox and Frans Snijders were key figures in Antwerp during the Baroque era.

Each made his mark on the city’s cultural and social life – Nicolaas as burgomaster and Frans as a brilliant painter of animals and still lifes. They were also next-door neighbours for 20 years in Keizerstraat.

Their original homes, now carefully restored, both belong to KBC, which opened the Rockox House as a museum some years ago and is now doing the same with the Snijders House.

The everyday world of 17th-century citizens will be evoked through items from the museum’s own collection, supplemented by loans from museums and private collections in Belgium and abroad.

We will be able to view Nicolaas and Frans’s domestic environment through their own eyes, along with the making and promotion of art, collecting and display, markets and richly set tables, nature and gardens, and the humanist and the average citizen in the turbulent era in which they lived.