In the summer of 1902 Friedländer visited the Exposition des Primitifs flamands et d’Art ancien in Bruges. The exhibition was held in the Provinciaal Hof at the Grote Markt. 

​

More than four hundred paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries were on display. They were on loan from museums, art dealers and private collectors. The adjacent Gruuthusemuseum exhibited objects from the same period, such as furniture, sculpture, ivories, metalwork, medals, coins, tapestries and manuscripts.