Art, Life, Legacy: Northern European Paintings in the Collection of Isabel and Alfred Bader

Featuring masterpieces of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish painting—including works by Rembrandt van Rijn and Jan Lievens—Art, Life, Legacy: Northern European Paintings in the Collection of Isabel and Alfred Bader is the only U.S. exhibition of the Baders’ exquisite collection. This major exhibition pays tribute to the extraordinary lives and generosity of the late Drs. Isabel and Alfred Bader, and also illuminates the transformations that occurred across Dutch society during the Baroque period.

Paintings reflecting themes of generosity, sacrifice, struggle, faith, family, and journey open the exhibition and impart the collectors’ life story. These are primarily scenes from the Hebrew Bible. Subsequent sections in the exhibition examine the role of mythology, the construction of identity, and the global trade and colonial expansion that not only built the wealth and prestige of the Dutch Republic but also fundamentally shifted how it viewed the world.

The collection of 75 paintings presented in Art, Life, Legacy was assembled while the Baders, longtime Museum patrons and supporters, were living in Milwaukee. They not only gave artworks to the Museum—many of which are on view in the collection galleries—but were formative in the development of the European art program at the Museum.

The exhibition is organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum in collaboration with the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen’s University.