European influence of Dutch and Flemish art. Cultural mobility

Ludo Beheydt

doi:10.14712/24646830.2018.50

Abstract

The future for European interdisciplinary culture studies lies in the recognition of the dynamics in European culture. If European citizens are to identify with Europe, a familiar European culture has to be offered to them. That familiarity will not be found in a national history or national culture studied in isolation, nor will it be found in European history or culture. Europe does not have a common cultural identity, a shared web of significance. A way out of this dilemma is conceiving European culture as the result of a continuous cross-pollination. Such a view is presented here in an exemplary approach to art, looking at Flemish and Dutch art as a meeting point of cultural influences.

Highlights

In the European context a new Cultural narrative for Europe is urgently needed
If we want European citizens to identify with Europe, recognition of the dynamics in European culture is an absolute necessity
I hope the present article has helped to understand the true nature of cultural identity and the importance therein of cultural mobility

Summary

Introduction

In the European context a new Cultural narrative for Europe is urgently needed. If we want European citizens to identify with Europe, recognition of the dynamics in European culture is an absolute necessity. [...] Fifth, mobility studies should analyze the sensation of rootedness.” Operating with this set of principles as guidelines for a new approach to European culture will lead to a totally new look at national art, which is more in line with today’s super-diverse European societies and, at the same time, offers a better access to the specific patterns of meaning that identify European cultural communities. It will be shown in an exemplary case of the development of ‘Netherlandish art’ (in the early modern period, 1450–1650) for a European audience, that applying these principles will have far reaching consequences for the new artistic narrative about art in Europe

Mobility in the literal sense

The sensation of rootedness

Conclusion