Banner exhibition graphic works of Harry van Kruiningen about the Epic of Gilgamesh
The Epic of Gilgamesh was a lifelong inspiration to artist Harry van Kruiningen. This tale from Mesopotamia about the adventures of Gilgamesh, the legendary king of Uruk, and his friend Enkidu is one of the oldest surviving epics in world literature. Despite its almost 4,000 year age, it still captures the imagination due to its universal themes. The banner exhibition can be viewed in the Leiden University Library until 31 October.
An immortal epic
‘He who beheld the primeval source’. This is how the Epic of Gilgamesh begins, a composition that has been described as ‘the first humanist document in world history’. The hero of the story is king Gilgamesh, ruler of Uruk, a city in southern Iraq, in the third millennium BC. Legends arose around this king at an early stage. In the second millennium BC, a longer epic was created partly on the basis of these stories, which was recorded on twelve tablets containing approximately 3,000 lines of verse.
The epic, which is very reminiscent of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey in both style and theme, was enormously popular and was copied over the centuries. Fragments of various series of clay tablets with the Epic of Gilgamesh can be found in museums all over the world – though unfortunately nowhere as a complete series. New clay tablet fragments are still regularly found, contiunally expanding our knowledge of this immortal epic.
Productief graficus
Harry van Kruiningen (1906-1996) was a painter, writer of children's book and above all a productive graphic artist. The texts that inspired Van Kruiningen are taken from the eleventh song of the Gilgamesh epic. In this song, Gilgamesh visits Ut-napishtim, the only survivor of a world-ending flood, in his quest for immortality. In many aspects, this story shows striking parallels with the flood story from Genesis.
The first series of works that Van Kruiningen made about the Gilgamesh epic dates from 1955. It was published by Le Canard with the title: Zondvloed en levenskruid (Flood and Herb of Life). Eight colour lithographs for the Epic of Gilgamesh. In 1963, a series of 26 etchings followed, in colour and in black and white, 16 of which were printed in a book entitled: Gilgamesj, de mens in verzet tegen zijn noodlot (Gilgamesh, man in resistance against his fate) (De Driehoek, Amsterdam, 1974). Harry van Kruiningen depicted Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu in his paintings many times. The last was Enkidu and Gilgamesh on a journey, in 1992.
Lectures accompanying the exhibition
On Thursday 31 October, two lectures will be held around the exhibition. Willemijn Waal, associate professor of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, will talk about the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, followed by Martijn Breuning, chairman of the Harry van Kruiningen Foundation, who will discuss the artist and the Epic of Gilgamesh. The lectures will be held in the Vossius room in the Leiden University Library, from 17:30 to 18:30. Doors open at 17:15. Participation is free, registration is required.
Please register before 28 October. Note; the lectures will be in Dutch
RegisterMiddle Eastern Library
In the new Middle Eastern Library, Leiden University Libraries brings together the rich Special Collections, ranging from manuscripts and rare books on the Islamic, Hebrew, Semitic and Armenian world, collections on Egyptology, Assyriology and the Ancient Near East, together with the modern collections on the entire Middle East and Islam. The Middle Eastern Library is housed in the Herta Mohr building next to the University Library. It was officially opened at the beginning of the academic year 2024-2025. Activities for the interested public will be organised this October to celebrate the new library.