Expected
20 September 2025 to 4 January 2026
What is truth and who or what actually defines it?
In the exhibition Om de tuin geleid, you'll discover that deception and trickery have been part of our lives for centuries. From 20 September 2025 to 4 January 2026, see how renowned artists like the Brueghel family, Peter Paul Rubens, and Lucas Cranach the Elder played with temptation, illusion, and cunning in the 16th and 17th centuries. Be amazed and find your own truth, both in the garden and in the museum.
Visit the exhibition
The garden as a symbol
A garden reveals much about us as humans. It can be neatly enclosed, reflecting a search for safety, or wild and free. Among optical illusions from the JK Art Foundation's collection, paintings rich in hidden meaning, and contemporary artworks, you are invited to look again: is what you see really what it seems?
Adriaen Coorte, Green Gooseberries on a Plinth, 1705, oil on canvas, 31,4 x 24 cm, Collection Het Noordbrabants Museum, on loan from the JK Art Foundation
Peter Paul Rubens, Adam and Eve, 1598 - 1600, RH.S.164, Collection City of Antwerp, Rubenshuis
The masterpieces in Om de tuin geleid show how our view of the world has shifted, then and now. What was once a divine creation became a subject of inquiry, and today we again search for meaning in a world overloaded with information.
In search of your own truth
In garden scenes, artists often hide warnings or desires. Some paintings even seem to offer life lessons, like in the ancient philosophy of the Tabula Cebetis: choose the right path and you'll reach paradise, but take the wrong one, and... you'll be deceived. Artists like Michiel van Musscher led viewers astray by depicting himself in a lavish landscape he never actually owned.
Discover more
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Venus with Cupid Stealing Honey, 1530, Statens Museum for Kunst, the National Gallery of Denmark, SMK photo Jakob Skou-Hansen
Jan Brueghel (I), Allegory of Earth, 1610-1620, oil on panel, 56 X 91,5 cm, Collection Het Noordbrabants Museum, on loan from the Cultural Heritage Agency
Inspiration for today
So even artists and their works often presented a false reality. Through themes like safety, love, and inclusion and exclusion, you're invited to discover your own truth and explore how image-making has evolved over time. Don't we all present a better version of ourselves on social media? The museum transforms into a green world full of deception and illusion. Dare to enter?
