The summer course is an initiative of the non-profit agency Vlaamse Kunstcollectie vzw (Flemish Art collection), the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, the Groeningemuseum Bruges, M Leuven, the Universiteit Gent, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the Rubenianum and the Flemish Research Centre for the Arts in the Burgundian Netherlands. The KIK/IRPA is an intrinsic partner.
The aim of the summer course each year is to bring to Flanders a select and highly qualified group of no more than 18 Belgian and foreign researchers (MA or PhD level) at the start of their academic career and offer them an intensive 10-day programme of lectures by experts, seminars, and visits (related to a specific Flemish art theme). The theme varies each year, with a focus on a different period of art history each time. The first edition of the summer course took place in 2015 and the theme was The age of van Eyck in context. Subsequent editions have concentrated on Rubens and the seventeenth century and medieval sculpture, the Fin de Siècle (late 19th and early 20th century), and, most recently, in 2019 Breughel and his era. In 2020, there will be another summer course and the theme will be Van Eyck and his era.
The summer course gives participants a clear insight into the Flemish art collections from the period under consideration, the available and appropriate research methods, the field of research, and research needs. English is the working language of the summer course.
The full programme of 10 days of lectures, visits, seminars, transport between locations, and almost all meals and overnight stays is offered at an affordable price. Participants pay their own transport costs to Belgium.
Thanks to the generous support of the Flemish Government 2 grants of 450 euro each are made available for participants with limited financial means. Thanks to the generous support of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation's History of Art Grants Programme, two students and citizens from the USA are offered a grant that will fully cover the programme fee and round trip flights between Belgium and the USA. In addition to a CV and application letter required for general applications, candidates for the grants are asked to send a one-page statement explaining their financial situation and a letter of recommendation from a faculty member.
We are striving to obtain international academic accreditation via Ghent University.
For more information about the next summer course contact us.