Matthijs de Ridder studied Dutch Literature at the universities of Groningen and Antwerp. In recent years, he focused on the life and work of Paul van Ostaijen, writing, among other works, his biography: 'Paul van Ostaijen, de dichter die de wereld wilde veranderen' (2023).
From 2020 to 2022, De Ridder was curator of the multidisciplinary art project ‘Besmette Stad’ (Flemish-Dutch House deBuren/Paul van Ostaijen Society), in which contemporary artists formulated an artistic response to Van Ostaijen’s ‘Bezette stad’ (1921). From 2015 to 2020, he was a lecturer in Dutch Literature in the Word Art program at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp.
As chairman of the Paul van Ostaijen Society, he is one of the driving forces behind the multidisciplinary project Dynamiek! This project aims to organize a series of exhibitions during the period 2024-2028. The culmination of this process is the commemorative year 2028. An exhibition at the KMSKA and an Opera at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen will form the core of a city festival.
Together with Isabel Voets, Pauline Lebbe, and Lies Colman, he created the concert lecture 'Herauten van de moderne muziek' (2024).
Image: Wouter le Duc
Update: June 2026