The Ros Beiaard painting talks back in Dendermonde
Jan Verhas’ painting of the Ros Beiaard procession of 1888 hangs in the town hall of Dendermonde. Visitors can ask it anything about the legend, and the painting answers as itself.
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A town hall where the painting does the talking
Every 10 years Dendermonde carries a giant horse through its streets. Yes, really.
The Ros Beiaardommegang is the procession Dendermonde that’s world famous… or at least it should be! Jan Verhas put the 1888 procession on canvas, which now hangs in the ‘jumelage’ room of the town hall, run by the Visit Dendermonde desk. Not a museum gallery but the the town hall, open to citizens and tourists alike.
The Stadsmuseum Dendermonde wanted the remarkable story of the Ros Beiaard to reach everyone, not just the people who already know about it. Visitors ask the work about the painter, the procession, the hyper specific rules to be allowed to ride the horse, the figures on the canvas and the legend behind them, in several languages, and the painting answers as the Bayard on the painting. The bayard found its voice in March 2025 and opened officially with press on 23 May 2025, in the jubilee year of the Ros Beiaard.
Photo of the actual procession and the painting of Verhas in the town hall, and the console during an early test setup. Click a photo to zoom.
The legend of the Ros Beiaard and the four brothers
The legendary horse carried the four Heemskinderen out of Charlemagne’s reach.
Ritsaert, Writsaert, Adelaert and Reynout: four brothers fleeing an emperor on the back of one horse … which explains why it’s so gigantic. In Dendermonde they take the legend very seriously. The whole town turns out when the Ros Beiaard walks, which happens only once every decade. It’s exactly this kind of heritage that is worth giving a voice. Everyone owns a piece of it, and the story definitely raises some questions.
The Ros Beiaard and the four Heemskinderen. Click to zoom.
Do you recognise anyone in the crowd?
Verhas painted real Dendermondenaars, known and unknown.
The canvas is packed with portraits and you can spot some celebs: the poet Emanuel Hiel, the composer Peter Benoit beside him, Verhas himself with his daughter at the front right. Some faces are still a mystery, and the museum invites anyone who recognises one to write in. The talking painting helps you look: it points out the stories, details and emotions most visitors would walk straight past.
Click a detail to zoom. The paper in the crowd is the real festival programme of the Stad Dendermonde.
History or legend?
Six things people say about the Ros Beiaard. Tap a card to see what the painting itself answered.
Every answer above is a real reply from the painting’s own log, translated from Dutch.
Three steps, no app
A console with a button and a microphone beside the frame. That is the whole interface.
Walk up in the town hall
The console stands by the painting in the jumelagezaal. Nothing to download, nothing to scan.
Hold the button and ask
The whole brain of the installation is a small computer inside the console.
The painting answers as itself
Then you ask it the next thing.
People stay longer and look closer
What the Stadsmuseum noticed once the painting started talking.
Longer looking
Visitors are genuinely surprised they can talk with a painting. They stay longer in front of the work and start noticing details they would have walked past.
Heritage without a lecture
Nobody gets a wall text or a guided tour. They get a conversation, and the story of the Ros Beiaard becomes accessible to a broad public.
Local pride travels
Because the module speaks several languages, the town’s most unifying piece of heritage reaches visitors from Belgium and far beyond.
A city service, not a museum piece
The installation lives in the town hall and the Visit Dendermonde desk runs it day to day. If a city desk can run it, so can yours.
Thomas Verwaeren, educational officer at the Stadsmuseum Dendermonde.
What cities and museums ask us first
Does the painting invent things?
No. It answers from the material the museum supplied, and when something is legend it says so. Ask it whether the Heemskinderen really fought Charlemagne and it answers, in so many words, that the saga is fictional and symbolic, not history.
Which languages does it speak?
Several, and the mix follows your visitors, not the other way around. Tell us who walks through your door and we will match it.
Can a town hall really run this?
Dendermonde proves it. The console holds a small computer, the Visit Dendermonde desk switches it on, and we take care of the maintenance. No technical staff required on your side.
What about our own painting?
If it has a story, it can tell it. See how Talking Pictures handles artworks, or estimate the payback with our ROI calculator.
The same idea at other venues
The same idea in an art museum, a science centre, a nature park, …
Want your painting to talk back?
Tell us which work you would start with. We will tell you honestly whether it has enough to say.
