Els Nouwens’ take on M’s collection

Images that resist

Alongside her solo exhibition at M Leuven, ‘OXOMORON’, Els Nouwen has also curated a personal selection from the permanent collection. It is not based on art-historical categories or hierarchies, but on her own way of seeing. She approaches the collection intuitively and associatively, guided by images that move or unsettle her, that linger in her mind, and by thematic affinities with her own practice. By using M’s storage facility as a space for reflection, and by not limiting herself to the most visible masterpieces, she brings lesser-known works and unexpected connections to the fore.

From childhood, Nouwen has been fascinated by ancient religious art, the Flemish Primitives and the early Renaissance painters. Their intense depictions of human suffering remain a source of inspiration. That fascination took concrete form in ‘Caroussel’, a work that served as the starting point for her selection from the M collection. Her work on copper plate departs from the Mater Dolorosa figure: Mary as the embodiment of mourning and compassion, an iconographic type present in various forms within the collection. By combining two virtually identical faces in her work – one upright and one upside down – the direction of the gaze is disrupted, sowing confusion about what and how we see.

‘Caroussel’ makes visible what is also implicit in the historical works: that images of suffering are not merely depictions, but also active evocations. They address the viewer’s body, direct the gaze and provoke unease. Thus, the Mater Dolorosa in the collection does not appear as a static icon, but as an image that resists being pinned down to a single meaning. It is from this dynamic relationship with the image that Nouwen builds her selection.

Within this, the religious visual tradition occupies a central place. Here, suffering is not approached as a subject, but as an experience: tangible, intense and existential. The power of these images lies in their ability to convey both vulnerability and solace, irrespective of faith or historical distance. In this way, historical art functions as a concentrated form in which empathy and physicality converge – and it is precisely for this reason that it remains so relevant today.

Carrousel’, Els Nouwen, 2024-2025, © de kunstenaar, foto: Kristel Van Ballaer — **Carrousel’**, Els Nouwen, 2024-2025, © de kunstenaar, foto: Kristel Van Ballaer

In addition to these historical works, the selection also includes modern and contemporary art, which is often more abstract in nature. At first glance, this abstraction appears to be at odds with the narrative character of earlier art, but in Nouwen’s reading it becomes clear that the two are closely intertwined. Many of these works take their starting point in observations of reality and distil a concentrated form from them.

A key work within this cluster is ‘Materials’ (2020) by Hana Miletić. The handwoven strips, arranged in a diagonal pattern, appear minimalist but are based on temporary repairs in public space. Fleeting interventions are translated into a slow and meticulous weaving process. The visible labour, the warmth of the textile and the cross-shaped structure evoke associations with care, repair and iconography. The work’s orange colour is echoed in the architecture of the space and forms a visual field in which other works coalesce.

Other contemporary works also resonate with this theme. René Heyvaert, for example, produced patterns inspired by architectural structures; in the work of Jacques Lizène, the abrupt juxtaposition of materials creates a hybrid, sometimes grotesque reality in which irrationality and humour meet. In the visual effects of Michael Van den Abeele’s work, and through Marthe Wéry’s transformation of text into image, perception itself becomes the subject.

Throughout the selection, the grid emerges as a recurring motif: both a modernist emblem and an archetypal pattern. It does not function as a closed system, but as an open arrangement in which images combine and shift. Nouwen’s selection does not present a linear history of art, but a network of connections in which historical and contemporary works enter into dialogue with one another –fragile, charged and in constant flux.

Ralph Collier, curator