NATURE. Rubens Prints IV
With the exhibition series Human │ Rubens, the Siegerland Museum invites visitors to gain a deeper understanding of the printmaking work of Peter Paul Rubens. The collection is presented in changing chapters and placed in contemporary contexts. At its core is the human being—in relation to the environment, the celestial sphere, and, not least, to other people. NATURE. Rubens Prints IV forms the fourth chapter.
6 November 2026 – 17 January 2027
At the time of Peter Paul Rubens, interest in the observation of nature was growing, closely linked to political claims to power: those who collected and depicted the diversity of the world simultaneously demonstrated their dominion over it. In Rubens’s work, nature often appears as a powerful counterpart to humankind.
The fourth chapter of the exhibition series Mensch│Rubens invites visitors to rediscover this relationship between humans and nature through a selection of prints. The focus is on the relationship between humans and animals. What role do animals play as counterparts to humans? Are they prey, threats, or equal agents? And to what extent might depictions of animals even reflect the political claims to power and dominion characteristic of Rubens’s time?
