The Dead City, Bruges (Die tote Stadt, Brügge), c. 1911
Julien Celosexpand_more
Charcoal, pastel, and chalkexpand_more
Gift of Dr. Gabriel P. and Yvonne M.L. Weisbergexpand_more 2021.131.3
On View in Gallery 316expand_more
Cloaked in mystery and dwarfed by forbidding architecture, these two black-clothed figures are Beguines, Catholic laywomen who led quasi-monastic lives in communities called beguinages. The order thrived from the 1200s to the 1500s, with the beguinage often becoming a sanctuary for widows. In Julien Celos’s time, just a few of these communities remained and were seen as romantic remnants of the past.
This image and its title were very likely inspired by Georges Rodenbach’s symbolist novel Bruges-la-Morte (1892). The author wrote that when Beguines circulated through Bruges, they seemed not to walk but rather to glide like swans.
Details
- Title
- The Dead City, Bruges (Die tote Stadt, Brügge)
- Artist Life
- Antwerp 1884–Antwerp 1953
- Role
- Artist
- Accession Number
- 2021.131.3
- Provenance
- Sale, Antiquités, tableaux, objets d'art et bijoux, Galerie Moderne, Brussels, April 26–27, 2005, no. 796. [Galerie Maurice Tzwern, Brussels, until 2007; to Weisberg]; Yvonne and Gabriel Weisberg, Minneapolis (2007–21; given to Mia)
- Curator Approved
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