Flemish and Belgian painting in the National Museum of Fine Arts of Cuba

About the book:

The history of the publication ‘Flemish and Belgian painting in the National Museum of Fine Arts of Cuba’ started in November 2007.

When I visited the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Cuba in Havana for the first time I was amazed to discover dozens of works by Flemish masters on the 5th floor of the building containing the ‘Arte Universal’ department. Thanks to good relationships with the museum management and the curator of the Flemish and Dutch Art collection, Oscar Antuña Benítez, and with the Belgian embassy in Havana, and also to relationships within the context of the Rubens House and city of Antwerp and given the support of Kunsten & Erfgoed, it was decided in collaboration with Paul Verbeeck, from the Verbeeck Van Dyck gallery in Antwerp, to invest in a scientific publication about this unexpected collection. Reciprocal visits and research in Cuba, Belgium and the Netherlands led, after almost three years, to this book, published and designed by Stockmans and printed within the group on the presses of De Bie Printing at Duffel.

The book was officially presented in August 2016 in Havana by Philip Heylen, Alderman of Culture of the City of Antwerp, after it had already been introduced digitally during Semana Belga, organised by the Belgian embassy in Havana. During presentation of the book Philip Heylen also opened an exhibition of drawings by Old Masters from various collections in Antwerp.

- Bruno Devos