Discover the Modern

Modern art emerged in the final years of the nineteenth century. The turn of the century was a time of industrialisation and growing prosperity, new democracies and increasing tensions between nation states. It was at this time of bubbling undercurrents – of both pleasure and fear – that the avant-garde rose to the surface. Rejecting the way their predecessors had done things, artists went in search of their own motivations: both young artists, like Charley Toorop and Picasso, who wanted to make a difference, and established artists, like Monet and Kandinsky, who reinvented themselves. 

By challenging existing methods, idioms and subjects, the new generation of artists created a new reality that extended beyond the world of art. Modern art needs to be viewed with an open mind, there is simply no other way. 

The constantly changing present 

Modernist artists believed that their work could make society better, that their continuous urge to innovate would lead to further progress. This urge makes modern art difficult to pin down in terms of time, if only because innovation occurred at a different pace in different movements. Kunstmuseum Den Haag has therefore devised an exhibit which does not present work in chronological order, but instead celebrates the constantly changing present.  

Discover the Modern brings together art from different periods, movements and disciplines in a way that may not at first glance seem to make sense. But it allows visitors to identify threads running through 20th-century art, and discover narratives and dialogues between artworks and artists from different periods and parts of the world.  

How did Mondrian influence minimal artists like Donald Judd? What do the powerful paintings of Francis Bacon have in common with the sculptures of Berlinde de Bruyckere? And what is the connection between Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s expressionism and the multilayered portraits of Marlene Dumas? Learn more about the trends and movements in modern art, and immerse yourself in their intense reflections on life, visual idioms and themselves.  

Modern art did not stick to any roadmap, and nor are visitors to our exhibit expected to do so. Our world-renowned permanent exhibit therefore provides a fabulous overview of work by the leading artists of the modern age, from Monet to Mondrian, and from Kandinsky to Bacon. Even the biggest art experts keep coming back for more.  

Audio guide 

Visit Discover the Modern with our inspiring audio guide, using an app that can be downloaded free of charge. With no fewer than 45 stories about a range of artists, from Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Charley Toorop to Louise Bourgeois, Francis Bacon and Iris Kensmil, the guide features the voice of Sue McDonnell.