The Polk Museum of Art Presents Music & Dance in Painting of the Dutch Golden Age

LAKELAND (January 21, 2020) – The Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College presents its unique “Music & Dance in Painting of the Dutch Golden Age” exhibition from Saturday, February 8 to May 31, 2020. Admission to this exhibition is free and will be available for viewing in the Museum’s Dorothy Jenkin's Gallery and Gallery II on the first floor.

The Museum’s second collaboration with the Hoogsteder Museum Foundation, located in The Hague, following the popular “Rembrandt’s Academy” in 2017, this exhibition rivals any show the Polk Museum has previously hosted. “Music & Dance” features 27 Old Master paintings rarely seen before by the public. Framed around the interdisciplinary themes of music and dance, the exhibition has been designed to engage audiences of diverse interests and to integrate the fine and performing arts. The exhibition will also immerse visitors into the culture, attire, instruments, and dance styles of the so-called “Golden Age,” from the viola de gamba and the cittern to the "egg dance.”

“The exhibition delves deeply into the art, history, and culture of the Netherlands in the 17th century, a period of great wealth and cultural achievement for the Dutch people,’” stated Executive Director and Chief Curator Dr. Alex Rich. “Visitors will have the opportunity to see for themselves how brilliantly the Old Masters were able to capture the spirit of the Golden Age in their paintings, revealing in vivid color the insatiable Dutch appetite for singing songs, forming ensembles, and moving to melodies."

This rare opportunity to bring these privately-held European paintings from three centuries ago to Polk County goes to the heart of the Polk Museum's mission as an educational institution.

“We strive always to create experiences for our visitors that are unlike any they might find elsewhere,” Dr. Rich explained, “Not only does this exhibition hold a little something in it that should interest everyone, with its Old Masters and themes of music and dance, but it also presents masterworks that our audiences will never get to see again.”