Berlinde De Bruyckere

Galleria Continua presents Berlinde de Bruyckere as part of 5x5x5 galleries programme. The artist has created for the city of Palermo an intervention inspired by the intense spirituality emanating from the venue of Santa Venera.
The artist felt the architecture of the church so pure and balanced and she has expecially conceived for this space new touching sculptures titled “Mantel”.
Berlinde was deeply influenced by the Spanish master Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664) whose paintings of San Francesco can be considered the main reference for the brown, torn blankets composing the sculptures.
The element of the wooden frame which wrap the blanket, holding a kind of bas-relief is inspired by the recently discovered ‘Enclosed Gardens’, that were found in a convent in Mechelen, Belgium.