On 25 October 2025 the Groninger Museum will unveil New Light – De Ploeg, a completely revamped exhibition of works by the De Ploeg movement from the museum’s collection. The new display provides a fresh, in-depth look at the renowned artists’ society that was foundedin Groningen in 1918 and left a lasting mark on Dutch art history.
The exhibition reveals the De Ploeg artists’ surprising versatility and passion for experimentation during the period 1918–1930. They produced not only expressionist paintings but also graphic design, applied art, and collaborative projects with writers, musicians and architects. The show’s focus on the work’s origins and context brings alive the artists’ original drive to deliver “the shock of the new”.
A fresh display full of surprising stories
Whereas the previous exhibition highlighted the paintings as masterworks, the Groninger Museum is now starting the story at the beginning, recalling the artists’ socioeconomic backgrounds, their education at the Minerva Art Academy, the influence of the international avant-garde, and De Ploeg’s role in society. The show also looks closely at how the artists experimented with materials and methods and at lesser-known aspects of their work such as applied art and collaborative projects.
The new, chronologically ordered exhibition occupies seven rooms in the De Lucchi Pavilion. Each gallery tells a different part of the story, from the group’s founding and early successes to Jan Wiegers’ influential encounter with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in Switzerland; from the artists’ multidisciplinary work to their quest for abstraction and constructivism; and, finally, De Ploeg’s postwar position in museums, collections, and Groningen’s art world. The show features work by artists includingHendrik Nicolaas Werkman, Jan Altink, Alida Pott, Johan Dijkstra, George Martens, Jan van der Zee, Wobbe Alkema, Job Hansen and Jan Wiegers.
New Light – De Ploeg opens on Saturday 25 October 2025 at the Groninger Museum and will remain on permanent view.
Note to the editor, not for publication
For more information please contact the
Communication, PR and Marketing department:
pr@groningermuseum.nl - +31 (0)50 3666 510