At the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille, an idea behind the celebration

Article reserved for subscribers

From Rubens to Brueghel, the works in the exhibition "Flemish Festivals and Celebrations" offered by the museum until August 31, date back to the 16th and 17th centuries and retrace the history of Flanders through festivities.

“Ommegang with the giant Druon Antigone on the Meir” by Alexander Van Bredael, 1697. (Stéphane Maréchalle/ RMN – Grand Palais)

In the north, partying is serious business. And it's been going on for a while, as the Flemish Festivals and Celebrations exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille demonstrates. Born from a Franco-Belgian collaboration, the very interesting exhibition dates back to the 16th and 17th centuries, through around a hundred works (paintings, musical instruments, weapons, papier-mâché giants, etc.), on loan from Brussels, Vienna, Madrid, Amsterdam, and Paris. How can we not associate Flemish festivals with the colorful painting The King Drinks by Jacques Jordaens (1638-1640), on loan from the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and presented at the end of the exhibition?

It's a banquet, the center of which is occupied by a laughing, red-faced old man, wearing a crown, with a glass of wine and a cake for a meal. Around him, guests packed like sardines and particularly drunk, with twisted mouths, are making a toast, bellowing, and playing the bagpipes. At the top of the painting, a madman is waving his hobby horse and bells; at the bottom, a dog is leaping; to the right, a woman is wiping a baby's bottom; and in a corner, we notice a self-portrait of the painter—Jacques Jordaens himself—spitting out his guts by knocking over a tray. Now that's a scene of revelry where people seem to be having fun! But before reaching this acme of the riotousness—which is also a clear parody of power—