True Colors

For almost 30 years, the AkzoNobel Art Foundation has been a major player in the art world. The foundation supports young talent and established artists through commissions and purchases. These artworks then literally add colour to the daily lives of employees and guests at the offices of the Dutch paint and lacquer producer. Since eight years, there has also been its own art space at its headquarters in Amsterdam, which is open to everyone free of charge. Works from this art collection are regularly shown in exhibitions at home and abroad, but never before has the collection itself taken centre stage in a museum.

The theme of colour in all its facets is one of the focal points in the AkzoNobel Art Foundation's collecting policy and in this exhibition, alongside the themes of space, individual and society. True Colors shows work by over sixty Dutch and international artists dealing with these topics. Artworks by Steven Aalders, Yael Bartana, Ann Veronica Janssens, Emma Talbot, Alan Uglow and Marthe Wéry, among others, will enter into dialogue in The Hague with works from the Kunstmuseum's collection by Donald Judd, Sarah Lucas, Piet Mondrian, Bridget Riley and Charley Toorop, among others. Colour brings together interesting combinations: for instance, Herman de Vries and Pieter Paul Pothoven (AkzoNobel Art Foundation collection), with their works on colour and pigments, will share a room with Isa Genzken (Art Museum collection) who, on the contrary, uses a strong industrial palette. A little further on, simplicity of form, research and complexity of colouring reveal the kinship of painter Steven Aalders (AkzoNobel Art Foundation collection) with his predecessors in art history such as Piet Mondrian and Donald Judd (Art Museum collection).

Artists often unerringly know how to put their finger on pain points and depict who we are and where we stand, as a society and as individuals. A key pillar in the collection of the AkzoNobel Art Foundation and in that of the Art Museum is 'la condition humaine'; being human, and the search for identity. True Colors therefore unfolds as a rich array of images and stories that take a sharp look at today's turbulent world. Otobong Nkanga, for instance, uses poetic imagery for an indictment of the exploitation of the earth. And Femmy Otten and Buhlebezwe Siwani show humanity in all its strength and vulnerability. 

True Colors - AkzoNobel Art Foundation at Kunstmuseum Den Haag will be an exciting mix of generations and disciplines, international young talent combined with renowned artists, who complement each other and tell a colourful and powerful story, both literally and metaphorically, based on art history and reflecting on contemporary society.