A Dutch masterpiece comes to Portview
Jan van Huysum’s 18th-century masterpiece Flowers in a Terracotta Vase was displayed at Portview as part of a UK-wide National Gallery tour.
In August 2021, an unexpected work of art arrived in East Belfast: Jan van Huysum’s Flowers in a Terracotta Vase, painted in 1736–37 and loaned by the National Gallery in London.
The painting was displayed at Portview from 11 to 17 August as part of Jan van Huysum Visits, a UK-wide programme that brought the work into community and non-museum settings.
At Portview, the exhibition helped open the new What’s the Story? community gallery with a major cultural event. Interactive activity around the painting included creative workshops and digital experiences designed to help new audiences engage with the work in different ways.
The exhibition came at an important point in Portview’s regeneration journey. Previously underused industrial space was beginning to host heritage, arts and public activity, demonstrating how the former mill could welcome audiences who might never otherwise have had a reason to enter the site.
It was a small but significant example of the building taking on a new cultural role while retaining the character and history that make it distinctive.
Contemporary coverage / source: ITV News – Dutch masterpiece set for display in Belfast community space | National Gallery – Jan van Huysum Visits
