World Class Museums between Paris and Brussels

CONTENT:
This course will provide students with an overview of the cultural heritage and museums of Lille’s
region, settled in the heart of Europe, at the crossroads of London, Paris and Brussels, close to
Amsterdam.
Students will have course sessions in various museums and sites as mentioned below. Topics to be
covered will normally include:
- Architecture: guided tours of Lille to discover the typical Flemish architecture and the
industrial architecture; visit to the Villa Cavrois, a modern museum in an art-deco home
- Medieval history and architecture: visit to Hospice Comtesse Museum, town museum of Lille
housed in a former hospital founded in 1237 by Jeanne, Countess of Flanders. It focuses on the
commercial and artistic and scientific history of Lille, and the collection features 17th and 18th
century paintings and decorative arts (furniture, ceramics, tapestries)
- Fine arts: including a visit of the fine arts museum in Lille, one of the premier museums in
France, which houses numerous European paintings across periods, a collection of antiquities, 
a medieval and Renaissance collection, 17th and 18th-century ceramics, 19th-century French
sculptures and 18th-century scale models
- Modern art: visit to LaM (Lille Métropole Museum of Modern Art), contemporary art and art
brut – an important museum for 20th and 21st century art in the north of Europe, including
three permanent collections: modern art (Modigliani, Picasso, Kandinsky, Klee, Miró, Van
Dongen …), contemporary art (Deacon, Soulages, Allan McCollum, Dennis Oppenheim…),
outsider art (Aloïse Corbaz, Adolf Wölfli, Henry Darger…) and a unique outdoor sculpture park
- Visit to the Louvre-Lens, the only regional branch of the Louvre in France, including art works
from the Louvre Paris collection displayed in a contemporary building of glass and light created
by SANAA, world-famous Japanese architects, in harmony with the location, an historical
mining site
- La Piscine, in Roubaix, one of the most celebrated museums in France outside of Paris, in a
former Art Deco swimming-pool
Note: students will travel to these museums on foot or by public transportation and will be guided
there by the staff of the Université Catholique de Lille. Class hours may vary according to visited
sites.

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the course, the students should be able to:
- Understand the historical and cultural heritage of Lille
- List different types of art and museums, especially in the Lille region
- Describe arts and architecture in Europe, especially in the Lille region
- Name major art influences in France and Europe
- Connect arts and historical facts in France and Europe