New Horizons: Exploring the Evolution of Color Photography at Rijksmuseum

This exhibition explores the pivotal shift in photography from a preference for black and white to the widespread adoption of color, showcasing highlights from modern color photography. It features works by prominent artists that demonstrate how color has become integral to the medium and blurred genre boundaries between artistic and documentary practices.

New Horizons marks a significant turning point in the history of photography, presenting a pivotal era where color photography transitioned from a niche interest to the dominant visual standard. Up until the 1970s, many photographers favored black and white, but fifty years later, color has permeated every aspect of the medium, making its absence difficult to imagine. The exhibition showcases key developments and highlights of modern color photography, featuring works by artists such as Viviane Sassen, Michael Wolf, Pieter Hugo, Ruud van Empel, Henk Wildschut, Jacquie Wessels, and Anne Geene. The rise of color photography led to a significant blurring of genre boundaries, merging artistic and documentary practices. Photographers now use the visible world in subtle and indirect ways to convey meaning, as seen in Henk Wildschut's documentation of refugee life through their structures, Michael Wolf's captures of Hong Kong's anonymous skyscraper exteriors, and the creation of entirely new worlds by Ruud van Empel.

The exhibition is part of the general museum admission. Daily opening hours are from 9 AM to 5 PM. Further practical information for visitors is available via the museum's website.