With the world-famous photographer David LaChapelle, the sensational glass art of Dale Chihuly and the paintings of De Ploeg, 2018 promises to be an exuberant, colourful year at the Groninger Museum. LaChapelle: Good News for Modern Man opens on 21 April. Summer kicks off early on 26th May with top works by De Ploeg painters Jan Wiegers, Johan Dijkstra and Jan Altink. Autumn will see the arrival of Hella and Freek de Jonge at the museum. And this winter will be the most beautiful yet, with the Groninger Museum bringing masterpieces by Dale Chihuly, the American master of glass and colour, to Europe in December.
2018 at the Groninger Museum
LaChapelle: Good News for Modern Man
21 April through 28 October 2018
The US photographer and director David LaChapelle (b. 1963) began his illustrious career taking pictures for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. His innovative approach quickly established LaChapelle as one of the world's most influential photographers. His spectacular, colourful, often controversial portraits of celebrities have become archetypal symbols of our age. This, LaChapelle’s first big solo exhibition in the Netherlands, features more than 70 works, highlighting areas of the artist’s monumental oeuvre from still lifes and landscapes to portraits. This survey will also introduce LaChapelle’s latest series, New World, in which he attempts to photograph the unphotographable in a search for paradise.
Avant-Garde in Groningen: De Ploeg, 1918–1928
26 May through 4 November 2018
In 2018, it will be 100 years since a group of young Groningen artists founded the De Ploeg artists’ collective. The Groninger Museum will mark the occasion with the major survey exhibition Avant-Garde in Groningen: De Ploeg 1918–1928. The group’s distinctive “Ploeg paintings” are more popular than ever. In strikingly expressionistic colours, they bring to life the region’s agricultural landscape, the art of the portrait, and the city. The exhibition will form the heart of 100 jaar De Ploeg, a series of centenary events across the city and province.
Portrait of Abel Tasman comes home to Groningen
21 June 2018 through 6 January 2019
The only known portrait of the explorer Abel Tasman visits the Groninger Museum this year. It was 375 years ago that Tasman, from the nearby village of Lutjegast, discovered the island that bears his name: Tasmania. Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp painted the work in 1637, when Tasman was a Dutch East India Company captain who had not yet become famous. The portrait’s comes home to Groningen province thanks to the support of the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra,, the National Library of Australia in Canberra, the municipality of Grootegast, and Singapore Airlines.
From Courbet to Israels: a visit from Museum Gouda
The Arntzenius collection
30 June 2018 through 6 January 2019
The Arntzenius Collection at Museum Gouda boasts works by Dutch and French painters such as Willem Bastiaan Tholen, Odilon Redon and Isaac Israëls. They include sweeping cloudscapes, colorful floral still lifes, and street scenes and portraits that bring a bygone world to life. Amassed by the painter Paul Arntzenius (1883–1965), the collection will be on temporary display at the Groninger Museum. The atmospheric Sunset by Charles-Franҫois Daubigny (1817–1878) is a highlight. The Groninger Museum’s Veendorp Collection will be on view at Museum Gouda over the same period.
The World of Hella and Freek de Jonge
15 September through 28 October 2018
The married couple Hella and Freek de Jonge have been working together for decades. This exhibition tells their story through their art collection and personal possessions such as clothes, ceramics, photographs, film images and never-before-exhibited artefacts of their activities in Groningen. For this exhibition, Hella and Freek will temporarily live in the Groninger Museum, allowing visitors to briefly step into their world.
Dale Chihuly
8 December 2018 through 5 May 2019
“I want people to be overwhelmed with light and colour in a way that they’ve never experienced." – Dale Chihuly
The Groninger Museum will enchant visitors with the sensational creations of the world-famous US glass artist Dale Chihuly (b. 1941). This exhibition is being specially curated for the museum in cooperation with the Chihuly Studio and will be the largest museum show of the artist’s work in Europe. Composed of 16 installations inside and outside the museum, it will provide a comprehensive overview of the highlights of Chihuly’s oeuvre and give an age-old yet still relevant craft the respect it deserves.
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Note to the editor
For additional information and images, please contact the communication, PR and marketing department:
Willemien Bouwers wbouwers@groningermuseum.nl +31 (0)50 3666 510
Karina Smrkovsky ksmrkovsky@groningermuseum.nl +31 (0)50 3666 512