Recent work

These are recent publications for which I was either the sole or co-translator. Click on the covers to enlarge them. You can find a selection of highlights on this page. If you want to see a full list of almost 260 published translations going back to the beginning of my career, they can be found in this PDF.

Nienke Bakker, Louis van Tilborgh and Emmanuel Coquery, Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise: His Final Months (London: Thames and Hudson 2023)

This is the catalogue of the exhibition opening in 2023 at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. I translated the Dutch texts dealing with many aspects of the work Van Gogh produced in the final period leading up to his suicide.

Wietse Coppes and Leo Jansen (eds.), Mondrian and Photography: Picturing the Artist and His Work (Berlin: Hatje Cantz 2023)

A fascinating and thorough study of pretty much every identified photograph of Piet Mondrian and his work and life. It turns out that he had a lot more fun than his carefully cultivated ascetic image might suggest...

Lisa Smit and Hans Luijten (eds.), Choosing Vincent: From Family Collection to Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum 2023)

As part of the celebrations of the Van Gogh Museum's 50th anniversary, this book tells the story of how such a substantial body of Van Gogh's work was kept by his heirs and eventually placed in trust for the Dutch nation at a purpose-built museum in Amsterdam. A museum that is now one of the world's most frequently visited and loved.

Frederica Van Dam (ed.), Theodoor Rombouts: Virtuoso of Flemish Caravaggism (Ghent: Snoeck/MSK Ghent 2023)

Catalogue for the large-scale exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent devoted to the Flemish Caravaggist Theodoor Rombouts.

Patrick De Rynck (ed.), The Finest Hundred (Antwerp: KMSKA/Hannibal 2022)

To accompany the reopening after several years of the spectacularly restored and extended Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (KMSKA), the museum published this lavish catalogue of 100 of its absolute masterpieces. I translated the whole of the English version, which was a genuine pleasure and privilege.

Paul Huvenne (ed.), Cobra: A Pictorial and Poetic Revolution (Veurne: Hannibal 2022)

This one was a particular pleasure to translate, as I've always been a fan of the Cobra (Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam) artists.

Sara Tas, Etel Adnan/Vincent van Gogh: Colour as Language (Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum 2022)

Catalogue for the exhibition of paintings by the poet and author Etel Adnan.

Paul Vandenbroeck, Born to be Glorified: Assumptionist Altarpieces in the Final Phase of the Spanish Reconquista (Leuven: Peeters Museum 2022)

This study by Paul Vandenbroeck, with whom I've had the privilege of working many times over years, was originally intended as part of Harmony in Bright Colors: Memling’s God the Father with Singing and Music-Making Angels Restored in 2021. There was so much material, however, that it was decided to publish a separate book on the truly colossal Flemish altarpieces installed in 15th-century churches in Spain.

Adrian David, Art Versus Beauty: When Stones Dance With Eggs (Brussels: Ludion 2022)

Here's what the publisher had to say:

Ludion presents Art versus Beauty, a book about how we look at art and, by extension, what it is to be human. At a time when we are constantly exposed to art through a plethora of galleries, exhibitions and the internet, and where online commerce has exploded, this book offers a refreshing look at modern and contemporary art. The author argues that concepts such as ‘beauty’ and ‘imagination’ are worthless when it comes to art and does away with out-dated ideas.

‍Art Versus Beauty – written and curated by art collector/connoisseur Adrian David – is an accessible, perceptive and lavishly illustrated book for art lovers, admirers, collectors and art dealers alike.

‍“Art does not take into account the judgment of the viewer and seeks to push boundaries. Art is autonomous, now, just as it used to be, contrary to what was expected of art. You cannot write an objective truth about a work of art and there is no definition of the word.” Adrian David

Koenraad Jonckheere, A New History of Western Art: From Antiquity to the Present Day (Yale/Hannibal 2022)

The amazing reviews for this book speak for themselves:

“There are many stories of western art that have been written, almost all of them focused on artists, nations, and traditions. But Jonckheere’s daring book is a learned and eminently readable story of the art itself, about the questions that works of art try and often fail to answer, and about what they do to us in the process. It’s a catalyst for teaching and thinking anew.”
‍Marisa Anne Bass, Yale University

“No other history of art comes close to Jonckheere’s. It’s as engagingly written as Gombrich’s classic The Story of Art. It’s neither pedestrian nor a survey of an out-of-date canon. It’s the most ambitious and original general history of art we have ever had. Vigorous, up-to-date, unprejudiced and lively, it’s a history of art of our time and for our time.”
‍David Freedberg, Columbia University

“This insightful book will remain relevant even in shifting times. It is coherent, thoughtful, even wise, and it has that voice missing from so many studies of art with a larger scope.”
Larry Silver, University of Pennsylvania

Louis van Tilborgh, Martin Bailey, Karen Serres, Van Gogh: Self-Portraits (London: Courtauld 2022)

Another job for a London museum, this time the newly reopened Courtauld Institute. I translated Louis van Tilborgh's essays for the catalogue published to accompany the exhibition, which ran from February to May 2022.

Bregje Gerritse, The Potato Eaters: Van Gogh’s First Masterpiece (Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum 2021)

Bregje Gerritse's book, which I translated from Dutch, is devoted entirely to the genesis and execution of the most famous painting by Van Gogh during his Dutch period. It wasn't well received at the time, but the painter himself thought it was one of the best things he ever did.

Nienke Bakker, Nicole R.Myers et al. Van Gogh and the Olive Groves (New Haven: Yale University Press 2021)

This is the catalogue for an exhibition of Van Gogh's series of Olive Grove paintings. It was held at the Dallas Museum of Art in Texas between October 2021 and February 2022. I translated Teio Meedendorp and Louis van Tilborgh’s essays and one of the catalogue entries.

Alice Insley and Martin Myrone (eds.) Hogarth and Europe (Tate: London 2021)

The Hogarth and Europe exhibition ran at Tate Britain in London From November 2021 to March 2022. I translated an essay by the Dutch art historian Paul Knolle for the catalogue.

Verónica Gerber Bicecci, Virginia Roy Luzarraga, Ana Torfs
Ana Torfs: Espacio oscuro donde no pueden ponerse las cosas/Dark Space Where Things Cannot Be Put
‍(MUAC: Mexico City 2021)

I've had the pleasure of working with the Belgian artist Ana Torfs several times over the years. Her work is amazing and her writing too, although I always end up buying even more books after translating her essays.
She recently had an installation at the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City, for which an earlier translation of mine was reused and also translated into Spanish.
If you want to see the catalogue you can download a PDF copy free of charge.

Griet Steyaert, Marie Postec et al. Ghent Altarpiece. Research and Conservation of the interior: The Lower Register (Brussels: Institut du Patrimoine artistique 2020)

The next stage of this epic project to conserve and research the Van Eyck brothers' Lamb of God in Ghent is now complete. It was all in French this time and I translated the whole thing (for the previous instalment I translated all of the Dutch texts and some of the French).

Renske Cohen Tervaert et al. Aged Well: Drawings from the Kröller-Müller Collection 1500-1850 (Otterlo:Kröller-Müller Museum 2021)

Following on from the English version of the Kröller-Müller's catalogue of all its Van Goghs last year, I had the privilege of translating this beautifully produced catalogue of the museum's collection of old master drawings.

Kristoffer Arvidsson (ed.), Focus on Europe: New Objectivities 1919-1939 Brännpunkt Europa: Nysakligheter (Gothenburg:Goteborgs Konstmuseum 2021)

This catalogue for an exhibition in Gothenburg, Sweden, for which I translated Mieke Rijnders’ essay), reflects a growing interest in Realist painting in a period best-known for its various modernist and post-modernist movements.

Lizet Klaassen and Dieter Lampens (eds.)
Harmony in Bright Colors: Memling’s God the Father with Singing and Music-Making Angels Restored
(Turnhout: Brepols 2021)

This beautiful book, for which I translated the Foreword, Introduction and Chapters 3, 10 and 12) tells the story of the monumental upper tier, which is all that survives of a huge altarpiece Hans Memling painted in the fifteenth century for the Benedictine Abbey Church of Nájera in Spain. The panels have been recently restored, accompanied by large-scale research. The book even comes with a CD of music performed on instruments specially reconstructed after the ones the angels are shown playing in Memling's painting.

Maite van Dijk and Renske Suijver (eds.), Masterpieces in The Mesdag Collection (Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum 2021)

This one was an update of the existing catalogue for The Mesdag Collection in The Hague.

Chris Stolwijk and Renske Cohen Tervaert
Van Gogh: All Works in the Kröller-Müller Museum
(Otterlo: Kröller-MüllerMuseum 2020)

After working so much for the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, it was a real pleasure to be asked to translate the catalogue of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings for the Kröller-Müller Museum too.

Louis van Tilborgh, Teio Meedendorp and Kathrin Pilz
'Van Gogh as mentally ill: his contested Oslo self-portrait'
in The Burlington Magazine, February 2020. pp. 88-101
(Gorssel: Museum More 2020)
I don't normally include journal articles in the publications list, but I was particularly happy to translate the cover article for an issue of The Burlington Magazine.

Nienke Bakker and Ann Blokland (eds.)
Life According to Vincent: 150 Inspiring Quotes
(Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum 2020)

This nice little book matches inspiring quotes from Vincent van Gogh to particular paintings and drawings. All I had to do was translate the introductory article.

Julia Dijkstra, Marieke Joooren, Ype Koopmans,Chris Reinewald and Dominique Velde
Museum More: 100 jaar realisme
(Gorssel: Museum More 2020)
I had the opportunity to work for a new institution in the latter part of 2020. Museum More in Gorssel (NL) specializes in Realist art, for which it has published this catalogue of its permanent collection. Parallel Dutch and English texts discuss the works themselves, with essays on the history of Realism and the museum itself.

Bart Fransen and Cyriel Stroo (eds.),
‍The Ghent Altarpiece. Research and Conservation of the Exterior (Brussels: Institutdu Patrimoine artistique 2020).

This book is a comprehensive presentation of the results of the recent conservation of the Van Eyck brothers' Ghent Altarpiece – more commonly known as ‘The Lamb of God’. It reports on the treatment of the panels of the closed altarpiece and I translated the sections originally written in Dutch plus some of the French.

Maximiliaan Martens, Till-Holger Borchert, Jan Dumolyn (eds.)
Van Eyck: An Optical Revolution
(Thames & Hudson, 2020).
Jackie Wullschläger of the Financial Times included this book, for which I translated all the Dutch texts, in the paper’s list of recommended summer reads:
'This fat, scholarly, beautifully produced catalogue will for many be a substitute for seeing Ghent’s groundbreaking Van Eyck show, sadly closed midway through its run in March. Emerging from a medieval world view, Van Eyck’s fresh, exhilarated naturalism determined the course of western art.'

Nienke Bakker and Lisa Smit (eds.)
In the Picture: Portraying the Artist
‍(Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 2020)
Sadly, this is one of the exhibitions that ended up being cancelled prematurely due to the COVID-19 crisis. A lovely study on portraits of artists by themselves and their friends and colleagues. At least we still have the book.

Hans Vlieghe
‍Apollo on His Sun Chariot (Phoebus Focus 8)
(Antwerp: The Phoebus Foundation, 2019)
This little book by the eminent Flemish art historian Hans Vlieghe is the first of a whole number of Phoebus Focus translations I've been working on recently for The Phoebus Foundation in Antwerp.

Joris Van Grieken, Maarten Bassens, et al.
‍Bruegel in Black & White: The World of Bruegel
(Antwerp: Hannibal, 2019).
The catalogue for the amazing exhibition of prints by Pieter Bruegel at the KBR, the former Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels. I translated all but one of the texts.

Esther Darley and Renske Suijver
‍Masterpieces in the Van Gogh Museum
(Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 2019)
It's an odd thought, but this very fine book, for which I was the sole translator, is likely to sell more copies than anything else I've done.

Valérie Herremans, Architecture and Sculpture: 4: Architectural Sculpture (Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard XXII (Turnhout: Brepols, 2019)
‍
Follow-up to last year's instalment in the Corpus. This time I translated the introductory essay and most of the catalogue section too.

Bert van Beneden (ed.), From Titian to Rubens: Masterpieces from Antwerp and other Flemish Cities Ghent: Snoeck, 2019)

Catalogue for the exhibition of Flemish art at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice. I translated all of it, which included texts in Dutch, French, German and Italian.

Simon Baker and Maite van Dijk (eds.) Jean-François Millet: Sowing the Seeds of Modern Art (Bussum: THOTH Publishers, 2019)
‍
Catalogue of the Millet exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and later the Saint Louis Art Museum.

Nienke Bakker and Ella Hendriks, Van Gogh and the Sunflowers (Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 2019)

The companion publication to the one below, aimed at a wider public. Again, much of it was already in English. I translated Nienke Bakker's article.

Ella Hendriks and Marije Vellekoop, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers Illuminated: Art Meets Science (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2019)
‍
The results of several years' intensive research into all of Van Gogh's Sunflowers paintings. The book was mostly in English already but I did get to translate the forward.

Matthias Depoorter, The Gruuthuse Museum, Bruges (Antwerp: Ludion, 2019)

A newly written guide to go with the reopening of fully refurbished Gruuthuse Museum in Bruges.

View on the publisher's site

Pieter Swinnen and Eva Wittocx, René Heyvaert (Leuven: M Museum 2019)

M Museum Leuven presented a monographic exhibition of work by the Flemish contemporary architect and artist René Heyvaert (1929-1984). The accompanying book contains essays, photographs and recollections provided by friends, colleagues and critics. It's a bilingual edition, for which I translated all the Dutch texts.

Available from Copyright Bookshop‍

Mark Derez, Soetkin Vanhauwaert and Anne Verbrugge (eds.), Arenberg (Turnhout: Brepols, 2018)

This book was published to accompany the exhibition The Arenbergs at M Museum in Leuven. I translated the chapters by Derez, Vlieghe, Cockx-Indestege & Delsaerdt, Van Grieken & Bassens, mostly dealing with the family's art and book collection.

View at BOL.com and Amazon

Lisa De Boeck and Marilène Coolens, memymom (Antwerp: Ludion 2018)

Memymom is the name used by the artists’ collective and mother-and-daughter team Marilène Coolens and Lisa De Boeck. The collection of photographs has essays by Jo Coucke and Kurt Snoekx, which I translated.

View on the publisher's site‍

Maite van Dijk and Joost van der Hoeven, Gauguin and Laval in Martinique (Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum 2018)

Paul Gauguin and Charles Laval spent four crucial months painting on the island of Martinique in 1887. This is the catalogue for the exhibition of the same name at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. I was the co-translator with Diane Webb.

Available from the museum bookshop, BOL.com and Amazon

Ria Fabri and Piet Lombaerde, Architecture and Sculpture: 3. The Jesuit Church of Antwerp (Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard XXII (Turnhout: Brepols 2018)

The twenty-second volume in the immense project to publish all new and existing scholarship on the work of Peter Paul Rubens. Having previously contributed some of the translations to Volume XI (the subjects were decided in advance, so the publication order doesn't always match the sequence of volume numbers), I co-translated this with Jantien Black. I am currently working as sole translator on the next volume in the series.
‍
View on the publisher's site‍

Ory Dessau, Hilde Teerlinck and Philippe Van Cauteren, Leo Copers: Dreams are Made of This (Antwerp: Ludion 2018)

The fiftieth anniversary of artist Leo Copers was marked by exhibitions at SMAK, BOZAR, M HKA and the Middelheim Museum and by this hefty book published by Ludion. It's a bilingual edition, for which I did the Dutch-English translations and Thea Wieteler the English-Dutch.

View on the publisher's site

Katlijne Van der Stighelen et al., Michaelina Wautier 1604-1689: Glorifying a Forgotten Talent (Kontich: BAI Publishers 2018)
‍
The exhibition on the rediscovered artist Michaelina Wautier (1604-1689) was originally planned for the Rubens House. Such was the advance interest, though, that it rapidly expanded until a bigger venue was needed (MAS in Antwerp). The catalogue is equally ambitious and a whole team of translators ended up working on it. I did the biography of the artist, written by the editor, Katlijne van der Stighelen.

Available from bol.com and Amazon‍