A Room of One's Own

11.02.2023 — 07.01.2024

A Room of One's Own

A Room of One’s Own is an exhibition about the work and ideas of female artists spanning several generations, with most works taken from the Bonnefanten’s own collection. This exhibition also features guest artists Carol Rhodes, Lydia Schouten and Marijke Stultiens.

In the exhibition A Room of One's Own several rooms are dedicated to the work and ideas of female artists in the collection who made their name in a world where male artists were the norm. Next to works from our own collection, A Room of One's Own also features guest exhibitions from Carol Rhodes (1959-2018), Lydia Schouten (1948) en Marijke Stultiens (1927).

What is the minimum requirement to create a work of art? British author and feminist Virginia Woolf (1882 - 1941) asks herself this question in her essay titled: A Room of One's Own (1929). Her answer: security, confidence, independence, a certain amount of money and... a room of one's own. Things that may sound quite ordinary now, but were unnattainable for women all over the world.

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Carol Rhodes' (1959, Edinburgh– 2018 Glasgow) artistic career spanned over 35 years. In A Room of One's Own both her drawings and paintings are on view. This posthumous retrospective is her first solo museum presentation on the European mainland. Rhodes painted many landscapes from an aerial view, reflecting a rapdidly changing world.

Lydia Schouten
As a pioneer in the fields of performance, video and installation art, and as a feminist figurehead, Schouten has a long trackrecord in the international art world. Spanning 45 years, her oeuvre addresses important themes like mass media, identity, loneliness, violence and abuse.

Marijke Stultiens
Marijke Stultiens' (1927, Breda) artistic career spans over 70 years. The exhibition A Room of One’s Own shows recent works made by the artist starting in 1980. Stultiens career began in a time period where women were expected to sacrifice their career and ambitions for their partner and children. This was never an option for her: 'You'll never bridge a gap in your career.'