POWER. Rubens Prints I

With the exhibition series “Human | Rubens” the Siegerlandmuseum invites you to explore the prints of the Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens while also getting to know this important part of the museum’s holdings. Each successive exhibition will open a new historical chapter on the Rubens holdings, while also connecting them with present-day concerns. The main focus throughout will lie on the human being – in relation to the environment, to the celestial sphere, and especially to other people. “POWER. Rubens Prints I” is the first instalment in the series.

28 October 2023 – 8 January 2024

“POWER. Rubens Prints I” was the first instalment in the series and focused on rulership: human dominion over other humans. What does it mean to have power? How is power exercised? How is it judged?

Rubens lived in politically turbulent times. Like other artists, he sought ways to represent his vision of ideal rulership. He often made use of examples from the distant past, painting not only mythological scenes but also historicizing works based on classical texts which show positive and negative representations of power. Mercy, justice, and piety are contrasted with cruelty, arbitrariness, and revenge.

The prints by and after Peter Paul Rubens offer opportunities to consider various aspects of how political power is wielded and to become newly acquainted with ‘ideal’ and ‘tyrannical’ rulers of the past.