![Floris Jespers, Zonder titel [Untitled], circa 1960. Collectie Floris Jespers / Stijn Van Wijnsbergen](https://wp-assets-sh.imgix.net/sites/15610/2026/05/web-image_03_Floris-Jespers.jpg?auto=format&fit=crop&crop=faces%2Centropy&ar=3:2&q=60&dpr=1&w=600)
After the Roaring Twenties, the historical avant-garde began to doze off. Some avant-gardists returned to painting still lifes, while others stopped their artistic work altogether. It was only when, after the Second World War, a new generation – a neo-avant-garde – became interested in the radical experiments of their artistic predecessors that the old guard woke from its sleep.
Old Guard? Avant-garde!
Old Guard? Avant-garde! shows how the rediscovery and reappraisal of experiment rekindled the avant-garde fire among a generation of pioneers. For some of them, it was a surprising reunion. Although they were by then between sixty and seventy years old, they also rediscovered themselves in the years 1955-1965.
The responses of the historical avant-gardists to the neo-avant-garde were very diverse. Michel Seuphor’s triumphant attitude towards the renewed attention for abstract art stood in stark contrast to the critical position adopted by Paul Joostens, for example. To do justice to this diversity, this archive exhibition does not present one overarching story, but eight parallel stories that lift the veil on how the old guard became avant-garde once again.
The exhibition includes works by, among others, Paul van Ostaijen, Michel Seuphor, Paul Joostens, Jozef Peeters, René Guiette, Floris Jespers and ELT Mesens.
Old Guard? Avant-garde! is the first of three archive exhibitions focusing on the post-war afterlife of Paul van Ostaijen’s art theory. This exhibition series is a collaboration between Muhka and Dynamiek!, a project of the Paul van Ostaijengenootschap.
Plan your visit
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Date: 06.06–13.09.2026
Location: Muhka, floor +1
Address: Leuvenstraat 32, 2000 Antwerpen
Language: Dutch, English and French
Admission: Free admission