Kehinde Wiley | Flourish

Museum Van Loon presents Flourish, the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands by acclaimed American artist Kehinde Wiley. This new body of work, created in response to the museum’s portrait collection and historic interiors, offers a critical and aesthetic dialogue between classical Western portraiture and contemporary identities. Drawing on his experience in Suriname, Wiley incorporates models he encountered there to explore themes of beauty, value, and representation in the 21st century.

Wiley’s portraits engage with the museum’s colonial legacy and its role in shaping cultural narratives, reimagining the traditional canon by centering individuals historically excluded from such visual spaces. “This work sits at the intersection of questions about who we were and who we want to be,” Wiley notes. Flourish reclaims and revitalizes the language of portraiture to affirm dignity and presence.

Celebrated for merging classical European styles with contemporary Black and brown subjects, Wiley gained international prominence with his 2018 presidential portrait of Barack Obama. His collaboration with Museum Van Loon exemplifies the institution’s renewed mission—initiated in 2019—to reinterpret its collection through inclusive and socially conscious storytelling.

Director Gijs Schunselaar remarks, “Flourish exemplifies our vision to connect heritage with contemporary realities. Wiley’s work not only bridges artistic traditions, it also articulates the evolving values of a pluralistic society.”