Long before asserting itself as a political entity, Europe was an area of intense circulation of people and goods. Despite wars and conflicts, this exchange of ideas, goods and innovations established lasting bonds between human communities, from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, from the Atlantic to the Urals. We often forget that artists, works of art and even wealthy men seeking to satisfy their hunger for beauty also travelled the trade routes and waterways. Thus, it is through past masterpieces and even modest works, that we can grasp and appreciate what was even at the dawn of the Middle Ages, a European space of art and thought.

The exhibition will illustrate, with many remarkable and often spectacular works, several particularly eloquent aspects of this artistic circulation and the various forms it took over a long period in the history of art (between the 5th and 18th centuries). It will include about 350 works, coming from over 100 European collections.

Curator: Prof. Roland Recht, Collège de France, Paris
Co-curators: Prof. Catheline Périer-d'Ieteren, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Prof. Pascal Griener, University of Neuchâtel