ReflAction

In this anniversary exhibition, curator Hester Alberdingk Thijm and her team bring together thirty years of art collecting in more than one hundred carefully selected works. ReflAction celebrates a dual movement: looking back and looking ahead. Art that moves us does not remain in the past. It continues to resonate in the present and opens new ways of looking at the world.

The corporate collection of the AkzoNobel Art Foundation contains over 2,500 works and revolves around timeless themes: color and research, the individual and society, and mental and physical space. These are not fixed subjects, but spaces in which the zeitgeist can continue to reveal itself. Therefore, ReflAction brings themes such as migration, connection and geopolitical unrest to the fore, alongside a deeply rooted love of nature.

In turbulent times, when the world is divided into 'us' and 'them', ReflAction offers another perspective. Philosopher Emmanuel Levinas wrote that only in the face of 'the other', you are free: the encounter transforms us. Simone de Beauvoir looked into a different mirror: she saw how we are often cast in the role of the other, and that an authentic self can only emerge when we free ourselves from this role. Artists, too, move between these two poles: relating to earlier generations, whilst at the same time trying to find their own, distinctive voice. Artists who once made their debut and went on to become international names, are showcased and reflected today alongside emerging talent. It is this courage to show oneself, and the other, that is celebrated here.

Two of Mounir Eddib's works were selected: the monumental mixed media painting Wall of Safety, Wall of Sacrifice (2025), and the lead sculpture Dar (2025). Both combine shimmering metallic surfaces and vibrant colors with rough textures and a strange yet intimate sensation of darkness. Both reflect on the past and future lives of coal miners in Limburg.

Photos by Gerrit Schreurs and Friso Keuris (final image)

Selected press coverage: NRC, Het Parool and Gallery Viewer