Community Outreach Coordinator Julie Thomson said it is rare for such a collection to travel.

"These really are the jewels of the DIA collection," Thomson said. "These paintings are always in their gallery. This is a real favor from them to have these paintings."

The collection features a number of important 17th and 18th century issues that affected everyday life, Thomson said.

"These paintings display the core issues of their everyday life," she said. "Music, family, food and their interiors."

Claude Lorrain, Pieter de Hooch, Willem Kalf, Giovanni Paolo Panini, Salvator Rosa, Jacob Isaaksz van Ruisdael, Jan Steen, Bernardo Strozzi, Michael Sweerts, Giambattista Tiepolo and Rembrandt are the featured artists.

Museum Director Susan Bandes said that since the paintings are from the Western European Baroque period, there is a particular curiosity surrounding them.

"This time period was a time of great prosperity in Europe," she said, adding that a lot of the subjects that ended up in the paintings from the period display goods from travel and trade. "When people looked at these paintings, they were either looking at things they were proud to have or things they aspired to have."

Bandes believes that people will connect to the paintings without a problem.

"It's our heritage, and what I think people will find is that there are a lot of similarities between the way these people lived and the way we live," she said. "I think people will be pleased with the quality of these paintings."

The exhibit came about from a collaboration of Kresge Art Museum, DIA, the Dennos Museum Center in Traverse City, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and Muskegon Museum of Art and took about three years to plan. The project emerged from the DIA's expansion efforts, when it needed to close some of its galleries for construction.

Bandes hopes that people who see the exhibit "get excited about old master paintings."

The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, will have its ceremonial opening on Saturday, Jan. 18 from 2 to 5 p.m. and will feature a lecture by the curators of the Detroit Institute of Arts European Paintings Collection, Elizabeth and Allan Sheldon, at 3 p.m.

Also at the Kresge:

"Pursuits and Pleasures: Baroque Paintings in Context": Museum curator Susan Bandes will present a lecture about the importance and relevance of the paintings in people's lives. 7:30 p.m. Jan. 29 at Kresge Art Museum.

"The Spectacular Baroque Theater": Presented by Frank Mohler, a professor in the Department of Theater and Dance at Appalachian State University, along with the MSU Department of Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 5 at Kresge Art Museum.

"European Music and Art in the Baroque Era: The Grand Tour": Presented by Kathryn Lowerre, assistant professor at the MSU School of Music at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12.

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More than simple pleasures

What: "Pursuits and Pleasures: Baroque Paintings"

When: Open to the general public now until March 21

Price: Free

History about the exhibit: From the Detroit Institute of Arts, the exhibit is the largest amount of paintings ever loaned out to a museum in Michigan. The exhibit itself has taken three years to piece together.

History about the art: The paintings are from the Baroque period that runs from around 1600-1750.

Extras: The museum has scheduled a lecture, concert and films centered around the paintings' time period.

The exhibit will have its ceremonial opening on Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m. and will feature a 3 p.m. lecture by Elizabeth and Allan Sheldon, curators of the Detroit Institute of Arts' European Paintings Collection.

Museum curator Susan Bandes will present a lecture entitled "Pursuits and Pleasures: Baroque Paintings in Context" at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 29. The lecture will focus on the importance and relevance of the paintings in people's lives.

"The Spectacular Baroque Theater" will be presented by Frank Mohler, a professor in the Department of Theater and Dance at Appalachian State University. The MSU Department of Theatre also will be featured at the 7:30 p.m. performance on Feb. 5.

"European Music and Art in the Baroque Era: The Grand Tour" will feature Kathryn Lowerre, an assistant professor at MSU's School of Music at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12.

Source: Kresge Art Museum