The High Art of the Low Countries

When we picture the Renaissance, we think of rebirth, revolution and the new world to come. That’s not how it felt at the time. People believed they were living in the end of days. From precious tapestries to the magnificent altarpiece of Ghent Cathedral to the dystopian visions of Hieronymous Bosch, art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon probes Renaissance Flanders’ obsession with the Final Judgement.

It changed art in ways too dramatic to comprehend – creating the concept of oil painting and the master-painters Rembrandt and Vermeer. But was the Dutch Golden Age a case of the transcendence of art… or a movement driven by the dollar or Florin? Andrew Graham-Dixon investigates an explosive moment in art, and a commercial imperative that is very recognizable in the art world of today.

Sometimes greatness rises from the ashes. After years as a global player, the Low Countries had fallen into decline. This is the story of how they rose again to become a key driver of the modern age, bringing us Van Gogh, Mondrian, Magritte and Delvaux. Andrew Graham-Dixon delves into the psychology of this tiny region that spawned giants of the art world that still electrify us today.