Temporary exhibitions

Flowers in Blue

Through the lens of Bas Meeuws

17 April until 10 September 2023

Just as with the masters of the 17th-century flower still life, reality forms the basis for Meeuws, but he then bends it to his will. For the exhibition ‘Flowers in Blue’, Royal Delft commissioned Bas Meeuws to create new work and to place the Delft blue vases from the museum collection in a context where the vases belong, filled with beautiful baroque bouquets.

Bas gets his inspiration from paintings by painters such as Balthasar van der Ast and the Bosschaert family. This gives a unique end result in which 17th-century paintings are combined with the latest techniques.

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Pablo Picasso, Magic Ceramist

9 October 2023 until the 19th of May 2024

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the death f on of the most important Spanish and universal artists of all time, Pablo Ruiz Picasso, a genius born in Malaga at the beginning of the 20th century. To commemorate his life an work, an extensive program of exhibitions and events has been planned around the world.

The Royal Delft Museum will showcase an under-appreciated side of Picasso’s career: the life of Picasso as a ceramist and his ceramic work.

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Van Ruisdael tot Frytom

November 8th 2022 until the 15th of March 2023

Never shown together before: works by the 17th-century Dutch landscape painters Van Ruisdael and Van Frytom on canvas and pottery. Van Frytom also painted on canvas, but could Van Ruisdael have done this on pottery as well? Is it 17th-century craftsmanship or art?

The composition of the exhibited pieces is unique and comes to Delft from (inter)national private collectors and museums for an exclusive period from 8 Nov 2022 to 15 March 2023.

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Schiffmacher Royal Blue Tattoo

28 November 2019 – 31 October 2020

Ink connects. This is a layered, deeply rooted and respectful ode to Delft Blue and the art of tattooing. A unique collaboration between two traditional crafts from an old world, brought across the seas from the east, and rich in culture, tradition and symbolism. Art forms that are applied only once by hand, with needle in the skin or with paintbrush on the baked clay.  Schiffmacher Royal Blue Tattoo is a story about faith, hope and love. Composed of exclusively designed hand painted objects. Designed by Henk Schiffmacher and supplemented by items and stories from his extensive collection.

Glorious Delft Blue

18th of January until the 30th of June 2019

With impressive portraits, fascinating still lifes and stylish showpieces, the Golden Age was unique. Royal Delft, as the only original 17th-century Delft pottery factory in Delft, has been making stylish and iconic Delft Blue since the Golden Age. With the Glorious Delft Blue exhibition, Royal Delft presents the Delft Blue glory and the grandeur of this period in all its splendor. In five themes – trade & new tastes, interior, tulip mania, portraits and fashion – the relationship is made with showing off in the Golden Age and contemporary showpieces and trends.