From 19 September 2025 to 18 January 2026, The Mesdag Collection presents a survey exhibition of the work of Barbara van Houten (1862–1950).
The exhibition Barbara van Houten – In the light of the Mesdags traces her artistic development, highlights her remarkable versatility, and explores how family ties influenced her work.
Although Van Houten played a significant role in 19th-century Dutch art, today she is virtually unknown to most people. She developed into a versatile and respected artist with the support and encouragement of her family, including her aunt Sientje Mesdag-van Houten and uncle Hendrik Willem Mesdag.
She produced colourful drawings, watercolours and paintings, explored woodwork, and specialised in etching – a medium in which she truly excelled.
Barbara van Houten, Self-Portrait, 1920-1950, oil on canvas, 88.2 x 67.8 cm. Groninger Museum, Groningen
Van Houten was one of the few female artists of her time to take up etching. In 1880, she spent a year in Paris, mastering the etching technique largely without instruction. After returning to the Netherlands, she produced expressive landscapes, portraits, powerful still lifes, and interior scenes. She also made many reproductions inspired by the Mesdag’s art collection, museum and residence. Van Houten lived with her uncle and aunt for two years, when she had ample time to explore her surroundings.
Van Houten stopped etching definitively in about 1910. From that time, colour became a defining element of her work, including her drawings. While her early works feature a subtle palette, the colours in her later pieces are increasingly vivid. Domestic scenes, portraits of those close to her and still lifes became her favourite subjects. Van Houten spent the last twenty years of her life in relative isolation, devoting herself entirely to her art. She continued painting until her final days.
The Mesdag Collection is home to the largest public collection of works by Barbara van Houten. A small number of these works were acquired by the Mesdags themselves, and exhibited at the museum during the artist’s lifetime. The other works were subsequently acquired by the museum.
A highlight is a large 2023 donation of an album containing works on paper. Now, 75 years after her death, her work is bring displayed for the first time in the Mesdag’s former residence: a place that Van Houten knew well, and where she created many artworks.
Barbara van Houten, Still life with poppies and glass vases on a table, 1891–1950, pencil and watercolour on paper, 65 × 62 cm. Private collection
Barbara van Houten, View in the garden, 1875–1931, watercolour, pencil and chalk, 48.3 × 28.7 cm. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, gift of Ms. M.A. van Houten, Zeist
Barbara van Houten, Studio of Hendrik Willem Mesdag, c. 1880–1910, etching on paper, 45.5 × 28.7 cm. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, bequest of B. van Houten
Barbara van Houten in a chair with a dog on her lap, 1935–50. Collection Groninger Museum