The Groninger Museum is known for its colorful appearance, both outside and inside. But have you ever noticed that a deep red wall can suddenly have a fresh green hue on your next visit? This polychrome wall policy was created by Frans Haks, under whose leadership the Groninger Museum was opened in 1995. Haks didn't like white, so everything got colour, and those colors also had to be able to change again and again. What kind of stories are hidden behind these layers of paint? If the walls in the museum could talk, they would whisper these tidbits to you about their fortunes over the past 25 years.
1. Colored light
Although the painted walls are now typical of the Groninger Museum, it could have looked very different today: before the museum opened, experiments were also done with colored light! Haks commissioned Peter Struycken to paint the walls. This artist had been working on the question of how you could develop a color palette in which every room has a different color, but the whole thing still feels like a whole. Because painting over is a costly affair, Struycken, an experimentalist, suggested trying it with colored light first. However, every work of art would have to be saved, and that turned out to be technically unfeasible – which is why Struycken designed his color palette after all. This is still used when a new exhibition is set up.
2. Two color palettes
In addition to Struycken's color palette, there is a second palette from which curators and designers can draw inspiration: that of Alessandro Mendini, the museum's architect. Both palettes contain around 30 colors. While Struycken's palette contains slightly muted or saturated tones, Mendini's has many of the pastel shades that can also be seen on the outside of the building. For example, the Groninger Museum has a rich variety of colors at its disposal. The palettes come with a few rules of use: they do not contain black or white, they are not used interchangeably, and multi-room exhibits have multiple wall colors.
3. Exceptional case
However, there is an exception to every rule and the same applies to the above rules. For example, David LaChapelle – although otherwise deeply impressed by the effect of color on his work – was given one room with white walls at his request, a room was painted pitch black for Claude Vanheye's photo exhibition DVOTION, and Mendini, king of color, chose to use the same color in all rooms for his own current exhibition: soft pink.
4. Museum hall as artwork
The idea behind the colored walls is of course not just that Haks didn't like white; it also does something with the art itself. Colored walls can bring out even more color in an already colorful painting, and it can convey the mood or story of an exhibition. At the same time, the colors ensure that the museum rooms do not disappear into the background, but that they themselves are allowed to be present as a work of art that gives meaning. In this way, the museum space is not so much in the service of the work of art, but a dialogue is created between work and gallery.
5. Colored floors and ceilings
If you find the current design of the museum already intense, then I would like to take you back to the period around the year 2000. As can be seen in the photo above, the ceilings and the floor were also made of a variegated tinted, and this, as with the walls, was adjusted per exhibition. The floor is now 'just' grey, but make no mistake: although at first glance the ceiling may still seem to match the floor, in reality the color is closer to lilac. A reason to look up the next time you visit.
Many thanks to Head of Collections Jenny Kloostra and curator Ruud Schenk.
Note: This article has been translated using Google Translate