A tree as a contemporary Madonna

For the New Horizon Dieric Bouts Festival

Artist Evert Debusschere created a new mural near the site of Dieric Bouts former home and studio.

He redesigned the old Madonna and Child iconography for the Parijsstraat mural, transforming it into a forest of complementary colours. The framing is reminiscent of a smartphone screen in which a large purple tree assumes the role of Mary. Bouts’ primordial man has all but vanished from the picture. Debusschere’s landscape dominates as he visualises the universality of nature. Combined with his sometimes jarring use of colour, the mural alludes to the lopsided relationship between nature and humankind and expresses his deep concern for the current climate crisis. Put differently, despite its intrinsic link to Bouts’ artistic legacy, Debusschere’s piece most assuredly belongs to the present”.