east wing

Please note: For the international exhibition Sámal Joensen-Mikines – Always the Sea, we charge a €2.00 surcharge.

Sámal Joensen-Mikines – Always the Sea

First solo exhibition in the Netherlands by Sámal Joensen-Mikines: Painter of the Faroe Islands

October 11, 2025 – January 18, 2026

Exhibition of the work of Samal Joensen Mikines (1906-1979), born on the Faroe Islands. The artist worked mainly on the island of Mykines – where he was famous – and was inspired by his immediate surroundings: the sea, the rugged hilly landscape, the cold hills and small fishing villages. His work is somewhere between impressionistic and expressionistic and focuses mainly on light and space. During his life Mikines contemplated alternately on the islands and in Denmark, where he considered gold as one of the important cards of his generation.

The exhibition at the Museum Belvédère derides small landscapes and sea paintings that have similarities with the work of Northern Dutch landscape painters who are represented in the museum's collection.

A Dutch monograph will be published to accompany the exhibition.

Director Han Steenbruggen traveled to the Faroe Islands

From May 7 to 10, 2025, a delegation of approximately twenty Frisian representatives visited the Faroe Islands. Led by King's Commissioner Arno Brok, the trip focused on studying the successful language and cultural policy of the archipelago, where approximately 60,000 people speak the Faroese language. The delegation included aldermen and representatives from the Frisian cultural sector, including the Fryske Akademy and the Afûk Foundation.

Director Han Steenbruggen represented Museum Belvédère during the trip:

"The further north we went, the more everything around us became atomized, and shapes were reduced to vague planes and veils of color. Further on, a pale sun suddenly broke open the sky, casting a beam of light across the sea to the island on the other side. Screened greens, blues, and ochres. Mikines' paintings are hidden in every view here."