New wing for ‘De Stijl’ in Gemeentemuseum

Starting 24 September Gemeentemuseum Den Haag is dedicating an entire wing to Mondrian and the artistic movement De Stijl. The permanent exhibition features paintings as well as furniture and architecture.

Vilmos Huszár, boy's bedroom for the Bruynzeel family

It is difficult to overestimate the significance of De Stijl, a movement that played a pivotal role in the European Avant-Garde. For most people, De Stijl conjures up images of paintings with bright, primary colours and straight lines. Just how diverse and innovative this art movement was can be seen in the new approach. The exhibition is innovative, moving from the micro to the macro level, starting from the intimacy of the living room before zooming out to the street and the city, covering subjects such as advertising, photography, fashion and society.

'We’ve had a blind spot when it came to De Stijl,' explained the museum’s director Benno Tempel. ‘Besides Rembrandt and Van Gogh, the work of De Stijl is the only art form to be included in the Canon of Dutch History. Yet up to now there was no one place in the Netherlands where you could go to get an overview of this most important Dutch contribution to modern art.'

Thanks to works on loan from the Kröller-Müller Museum, the Netherlands Architecture Institute and the Centraal Museum Utrecht this is now the case. A complete wing in the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag has now been dedicated to Mondriaan & De Stijl, with a space of 750 square metres.

World’s largest Mondrian collection

With almost 300 works, the Gemeentemuseum’s Mondrian collection is unique in the world. It covers every phase in the impressive career of this master of modern art. The enormous variety of work enables the Gemeentemuseum to show to the public the full scope of Mondrian’s artistic development, from realistic to abstract. The exhibition also contains his last – unfinished – masterpiece, the Victory Boogie Woogie (1942-1944), a monument to New York, the city that exudes rhythm and unbridled vitality. 

Specially designed space

The well-known artist Krijn de Koning and architect Anne Holtrop were engaged to design a series of rooms for the various parts of the collection of Mondrian & De Stijl. In addition to Mondrian, there are works by Theo van Doesburg, Vilmos Huszár, Bart van der Leck, J.J.P. Oud, Gerrit Rietveld and Georges Vantongerloo.

More information at www.gemeentemuseum.nl

The new space in the Gemeentemuseum (photo Frank van Rossum)