On April 10, 2026, the Faculty of Innovation and Design invited Edoardo Vilata, PhD supervisor and associate professor at the School of Art, Northeastern University(Shenyang), to deliver an academic lecture in English titled "Grünewald, a Mysterious Renaissance Master Between Luther and Picasso".

From the perspectives of the origins and development of art, as well as cross-regional and interdisciplinary comparisons, Professor Vilata provided an in-depth analysis and explanation of Grünewald—one of the most important artists of the German Renaissance—and his numerous works. The lecture attracted a large number of master and doctoral students majoring in Art Studies, and the response was very enthusiastic. At the end of the lecture, faculty and students engaged in lively academic discussions with Professor Vilata; Several doctoral students asked questions and engaged in discussions with Professor Vilata on relevant academic topics, gaining significant insights!

Professor Vilata currently serves as a doctoral supervisor and associate professor at the School of Art, Northeastern University (a 211 university); he has previously taught at Cathokic University, Milan, and Karoli Gaspar University, Budapest. He is expert of Renaissance art history and art theory with over twenty years research experience. He is focused on European Renaissance and Baroque, he is author of monographs about Leonardo da Vinci, Bramantino, Gaudenzio Ferrari, Pordenone, Macrino d'Alba and Grünewald. Whose birth name was Matthis Gotthard, known as Grünewald, is, together with Durer, the greatest, but also the most enigmatic painter of the German Renaissance. We know little about his life and only a few works survive. Among them, the most famous is the great altarpiece painted for the Antonite convent and hospital of Isenheim, at today at Musée Unterlinden, Colmar (France).

In the lecture, Professor Vilata readed attentively Grünewald's works, followed his training along sculptors and the growth of his figurative culture, also explained the religious and social ideology of him and his patrons, in a dramatic era agitated by Luther's Reformation and by the terribly violent Peasants' War. All events that Grunewald observed and lived, giving them form and color thanks to an exceptional capacity to respect and transfigure the reality of the world, from the highest peaks to the humblest things. During the lecture, Professor Villart also compared the distinct characteristics of Grünewald's and Dürer's artistic creations and explored the connections between the two. With keen insight, he examined the unique forms, colors, and lighting in Grünewald's artworks, noting that his artistic practice was grounded in reality while artistically transforming and recreating the real world.

Associate Professor Liu Haiping from the Program of Arts Studies, FIAD, hosted this English-language lecture and the Q&A session. Several doctoral students engaged in lively academic discussions with Professor Vilata on topics such as the colors, materials, and techniques of Grünewald's paintings, as well as his relationship with Dürer. This lecture broadened students' international horizons and played a role in deepening academic research methods, strengthening academic communication with other university, as well as fostering international academic collaboration.

Before the lecture, Professor Vilata and two PhD students from Northeastern University visited the exhibition "Art Knows No Bounds—2024 Class (2026 Cohort) Master of Arts Studies Graduation Exhibition" currently on display at the exhibition hall of our Cultural Center. There, they engaged in rich discussions with participating 2024 Master graduates on topics related to artistic creation.