Horsey, 2024, Bouke de Vries, 119 x 67 cm, Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics Collection, acquired with support from Club Céramique.

The Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics in Leeuwarden (NL) is proud to present the major retrospective exhibition UNBROKEN, dedicated to the internationally acclaimed artist Bouke de Vries.

Opening in the summer of 2025, this exhibition offers a unique perspective on the work of an artist who transforms broken ceramics into new and unexpected artworks in innovative and multifaceted ways. De Vries, born in Utrecht and now based in London, was originally trained as a restorer. His craftsmanship forms the foundation of an artistic practice that centres on fragility, impermanence, sustainability, and repair.

Bouke de Vries: UNBROKEN runs from 5 July 2025 to 16 August 2026.

Bouke de Vries is represented in the Netherlands by Galerie Ron Mandos and in the United Kingdom by Adrian Sassoon.

Decay and restoration
UNBROKEN presents a selection of highlights from Bouke de Vries's career, exploring the themes of decay and recovery.
The works in the exhibition are largely based on historical objects, but also address numerous contemporary cultural phenomena and the artist's personal world. For example, there are playful references to the Dutch TV series "Bartje" and other childhood memories, tributes to the artist's father and husband, and references to drug culture and war.
A total of approximately 95 objects and installations are on display in the solo exhibition UNBROKEN, including new works created specifically for this exhibition.

Memory Vessel with wax seals, 2020, Bouke de Vries, 46 x 23.5 cm, private collection

Unbroken
UNBROKEN features a selection of highlights from Bouke de Vries’ career, in which he experiments with the theme of decay and repair. This retrospective includes still lifes, relics, and monumental installations: in total, some 95 objects and installations, 11 of which are new works created especially for this exhibition.

Many of the works on view are based on historical objects, yet they also engage with a wide range of contemporary cultural phenomena and elements from the artist’s personal world. Playful references, such as a porcelain sculpture of Marge Simpson as Guan Yin, and other childhood memories appear alongside tributes to the artist’s father and husband, as well as allusions to drug culture and war.

In total, the solo exhibition UNBROKEN features around 95 objects and installations, including new works created especially for this show.

From Muses to Memory Vessels
Visitors are guided through five galleries through Bouke de Vries's oeuvre. The works are presented in thematic clusters; in "Dutch Stories ," De Vries's Dutch origins take center stage. Especially for this exhibition, the artist created a life-size, formal portrait of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima from 17th- and 18th-century Delft porcelain. A regal tribute and simultaneously a playful reflection on national symbolism and ceramics as heritage. Early Chinese

then explores Bouke de Vries's quest for the human connection with ceramics throughout history and the prominent place ceramics hold within archaeology. A prime example is his response to Ai Weiwei's conceptual and political photo triptych "Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn." De Vries responds with humor and tenderness: "I saw the photos, and in my mind, I picked up the shards and put the vase back together." By repairing a similarly broken Han vase (period 206 BC to 220 AD), he is taking care of the eternal value of this heritage. By visibly repairing the vase with Kintsugi—a Japanese technique only developed in the late fifteenth century—he merges ceramic cultures from different times and places.

Deconstructed Neolithic Machang, 2019, Bouke de Vries, Neolithic (600-1000 BC) Chinese earthenware on bronze base and mixed media, 50 x 55 cm, courtesy Bouke de Vries

In this room, De Vries reveals not only his fascination with the fragility of objects, but also with the fragility of context and meaning. Presented in tall display cases, they evoke the atmosphere of a historical cabinet of curiosities, or a wunderkammer.

Your Majesty, Bouke de Vries, 2024. Life-size double portrait of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, fragments of 17th- and 18th-century Delftware, 183 x 204 cm. Courtesy of Bouke de Vries , courtesy Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam.

Publication
Under the editorship of Wendy Gers, curator of the Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics, the most significant works from the oeuvre of the British-Dutch artist have been selected. Internationally renowned art experts such as former Design Museum director Alice Black, head of applied arts at the Rijksmuseum Femke Diercks, director Xa Sturgiss of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and many other prominent people wrote essays and entries about the art and works of Bouke de Vries. This first and only retrospective of De Vries was graphically designed by former Dutch Design Award winner Sybren Kuiper.

Sustainability to the core
Sustainability is a common thread running through both Bouke de Vries's work and the UNBROKEN exhibition . The artist transforms broken and discarded shards into meaningful art objects, raising questions about value, transience, and reuse. Reuse is also central to the design of the UNBROKEN exhibition . For example, existing display cases are being repurposed, and circular choices are being made regarding exhibition and print materials.
Sustainability has long been a key pillar of the Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics' programming. With exhibitions like Sustainable Ceramics#1, the first in a series on sustainability in ceramics, the museum is firmly committed to current, ecological themes within contemporary ceramics. In solo exhibitions like those by Yoon Seok-Hyeon (2021-2022), Humade (2022), and Keeley Haftner (2023), the Princessehof also consciously programs artists who have experimented with questions of sustainability within ceramic production and within society. UNBROKEN fits seamlessly into this.

Bouke de Vries: Innovator in Ceramics.
London-based Bouke de Vries is known for his unique approach to ceramics. He transforms broken and discarded shards into extraordinary works of art that evoke reflections on beauty and perfection. His background in fashion and textile design, as well as his training as a ceramic restorer, makes his work a feast for the eyes.

This combination of craftsmanship and creativity makes his art both visually impressive and conceptually stimulating.
De Vries's work is included in many leading international collections and is represented by leading galleries in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

Bouke de Vries. Photo by Felix Mueller

Princessehof Ceramics Museum
The Princessehof National Ceramics Museum is honored to be the first museum in the Netherlands to present a major retrospective of Bouke de Vries. With "Unbroken, " the museum offers a comprehensive selection of his most iconic works and showcases the power of broken ceramics in new, unexpected forms. This exhibition, which will attract both national and international visitors, underscores the museum's mission to present world-class contemporary ceramics.

The exhibition is made possible in part by the Municipality of Leeuwarden, Van Achterbergh-Domhof, the New City Orphanage Foundation, and the Boelstra Olivier Foundation . The acquisition of works was made possible in part by the Mondriaan Fund, Club Céramique, and the Van Asperen–Van der Linden Fund.

Partners of the Princessehof: the Ottema-Kingma Foundation, the Friends of the Princessehof Ceramics Museum, and Club Céramique.

The Princessehof Ceramics Museum is co-funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Municipality of Leeuwarden.

War & Pieces, as displayed in Charlottenburg Berlin, Bouke de Vries, courtesy of Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam.

War & Pieces (details), 2012, Bouke de Vries, 110 x 1000 cm, Bouke de Vries, courtesy of Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam