Last weeks of the ‘New Dutch Masters’ exhibition in Hainan, China

New Dutch Masters has been compiled by Museum van de Geest and consists entirely of pieces from the museum's own collection. The works form an inspiring and substantive match for the museum in China, which is entirely dedicated to 'outsider art'. With New Dutch Masters, a combination of present-day art and portrait photography by Sander Troelstra, Museum van de Geest is the first Dutch museum to present an exposition on Ocean Flower Island showing work from its own collection.

The museum on Ocean Flower Island, a group of artificial islands in the shape of a flower to the northwest of the island Hainan in China, does not yet have its own collection and wants to build an outsider art collection in cooperation with Museum van de Geest. With more than 10 years of collecting, Museum van de Geest has great expertise in this field and gives people in society, who previously have not been represented in the cultural landscape, a voice. Later this year Museum van de Geest will share its knowledge during a congress on ‘outsider art’ in Hainan if the COVID-19 situation allows it. The cooperation came about with help of the China Connector.

In New Dutch Masters the visitor meets the person behind this pure, contrary art form and gets to know their hyper-sensitivity and extraordinary creativity. Who are these artists? What are their motivations? In the exposition, artists are given a face and you enter into a new world. You experience extraordinary art made by people who are often not trained as artists. In an open-minded way, you experience people's creativity and get to know their unconventional imagination.

New Dutch Masters is a rich combination of contemporary art and beautiful photography by photographer Sander Troelstra; he has won the Silver Camera award several times and in 2015 he was the winner of the prestigious National Portrait Award. Inspired by the unusual, Troelstra applied himself to portraying people with a frayed edge: eccentrics who, for whatever reason, fall just outside society. He portrays the artists purely and authentically.