Right Wrong: The Seven Deadly Sins in Art

Evil in images

With the extensive and unique exhibition Good Wrong: The Seven Deadly Sins in Art, Bonnefanten presents a unique picture of evil in art from the long sixteenth century (1450-1650).

Prints Bruegel central

At the centre of the exhibition is the renowned print series after Pieter Bruegel the Elder depicting evil: The Seven Deadly Sins from 1558. Around this print series, the Bonnefanten shows its precursors and sources of inspiration, works by contemporaries and imitators depicting the same themes -Hey, Sloth, Gluttony, Envy, Anger, Lust and Greed.

Special loans

Good Wrong: The Seven Deadly Sins in Art is possible thanks to the generous commitment of over 80 diverse artworks by more than 20 national and international lenders. On view are precious collector's pieces and accessible, inexpensive consumer art.

Looking in the mirror

Bruegel's time was one of climate extremes with very cold winters and bad summers, of flaring epidemics and violent outbreaks of religious extremism. A time astonishingly similar to our own. Therefore, those sixteenth-century Seven Deadly Sins lend themselves particularly well as a mirror to reflect on our own times. What form would the sins take today, does the list of seven still suffice? In an audio tour, seven narrators explore the role of the deadly sins in today's world. From #metoo to climate issues, from the Christian tradition to Buddhist thought. In this reflection, visitors are invited to confess their own colours, confess their own sins and define deadly sins.