Jeanne & Charles Vandenhove collection

As an architect, Charles Vandenhove regularly collaborated with visual artists. In numerous public buildings, he integrated works by Soll LeWitt, Léon Wuidar, Niele Toroni and others.

But also privately, he and his wife collected a fine collection of 20th-century European art. Much of the Vandenhove collection was shown in the retrospective exhibition collection-collection Jeanne & Charles Vandenhove at Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, in 2013.

Charles Vandenhove decided to donate a significant part of his collection of artworks to Ghent University, and to provide funds to house the collection. To this end, a private foundation was set up (Stichting Architectuur en Kunst - StAK). This transferred the art collection of around 180 works to the University on 29 November 2016. In doing so, it was agreed that UGent will use the Vandenhove Pavilion and the acquired artworks mainly and as a priority for exhibitions, research and teaching in the field of art and architecture, with the Vandenhove collection as working material, and to be used to valorise the collections of the University Library.

After the death of Charles Vandenhove, the works of art from his home Chauve Souris and the architectural firm's branch in Hotel Torrentius, both in Liège, and from Bonnefantenmusem in Maastricht, where a dozen works were kept as long-term loans, were gradually transferred to UGent.

The Vandenhove Pavilion hosts at least one exhibition a year around (part of) the Vandenhove collection.

At the opening: Around Support/Surfaces, with works by Martin Barré, Daniel Dezeuze, Simon Hantaï, Bertrand Lavier, Niele Toroni, Claude Viallat, combined with works by Louis Cane, Daniel Dezeuze and Claude Viallat from the SMAK collection.

This was followed in 2019 by an exhibition of works by Léon Wuidar (1938°) and the Ghent painter Amédée Cortier (1921-1976), with about 25 works from the Vandenhove collection of UGent, and the collections of Galerie Rodolphe Janssen (Brussels), the SMAK, and several private collections.

In 2020 Signe/Trace: painters from the Vandenhove collection, with works by Rogier Bissière, Olivier Debré, Luis Feito, Loïc Le Groumellec, Simon Hantaï, Alfred Manessier, André Marfaing, Henri Michaux, Gérard Schneider and Pierre Soulages.

In 2021: HISTOIREs from the Vandenhove collection, with works by: Pierre Alechinsky, Charlotte Beaudry, Christian Boltanski, Paul De Vylder, Jim Dine, Nan Goldin, François Hers, Henri Michaux, Peter Klasen, Zoran Music, Giulio Paolini, Antonio Saura, Nadine Tasseel, Andy Warhol.

In 2022: LAMBRIS - Art interventions at Charles Vandenhove's CHU in Liège, with works by: Daniel Buren, Jacques Charlier, Olivier Debré, Jo Delahaut, Simon Hantai, Sol LeWitt, André Romus, Niele Toroni, Claude Viallat, Marthe Wéry, Léon Wuidar.

Nadine Tasseel collection

Nadine Tasseel (1953-2020), photographer, realised an artistic oeuvre of about 100 works. Before her death, she made a very extensive selection of her work and donated it to the Vandenhove Fund at the King Baudouin Foundation. The fact that she herself made the selection gives it a special value and interest for the research work of the students. An inventory is in preparation.

Paul De Vylder Collection

Author and visual artist, former teacher of semiotics at KASK (and former UG art history student) Paul De Vylder (1942-2022) donated a representative set of works through the Foudation King Baudouin Foundation Vandenhove Fund to make them available for education and research.

The donation includes photographic works from the 1990s, several so-called 'pitch paintings' from the 1980s, three wall sculptures, and several objects from the 1980s and 1990s, as well as the complete series of prints from 'Les Demoiselles de Saint Antoine'.

De Vylder was awarded the Visual Arts Prize of the Flemish Community in 1992. His most important exhibitions were two retrospectives, one at PMSK in Ostend in 1996, and one recently at the Verbeke Foundation in 2019/20. PMSK, SMAK, MDD and MHKA have works in their collections.

VANDENHOVE has shown De Vylder's 'Les Demoiselles de Saint Antoine' in 2020, and co-sponsored a publication of the works.

Following De Vylder's death and donations to MDD and SMAK, the exhibition Paul De Vylder (1942-2022): my, my work was organised in September 2022, in collaboration with Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens.

Victor Dauginet collection

Mr Victor Dauginet has given a collection of French 19th- and 20th-century drawings on long-term loan to VANDENHOVE. In 2022, a wide selection was shown in the exhibition French drawings from Delacroix to Bonnard. A selection from the Dauginet collection, curated by Dr Marc Lambrechts (with catalogue).

The collection is available as study and exhibition material for students and researchers.

Collection management

VANDENHOVE disposes since October 2021of a spacious depot in the Book Tower for the preservation of the collection. For storage and safekeeping, it cooperates with University Library staff, GUM, SMAK, and specialised firms.

Public electronic access to the collection for researchers and students, as well as third parties, is being prepared and will be made public in 2023 in cooperation with the University Library.