The Fries Museum presents an exhibition on Frisian artist Wybrand de Geest (1592-1663/65). Wybrand de Geest is considered Friesland’s most important 17th-century portrait painter. The exhibition was designed by Karen Polder.
Wybrand de Geest was a prominent portrait painter in Friesland in the seventeenth century. The highest nobility loved to have their portraits painted by him; a meter-high portrait by his hand was truly a status symbol. No one could make velvet, brocade, and jewels leap off the canvas like he could.
The grandeur of that era is brought back to life in the large rooms of the Fries Museum—primarily through the people who are so vividly captured and who look straight at you, but also through the atmosphere, the rich upholstery, and the warm color tones in the exhibition, designed by Karen Polder.
Exhibition ‘Wybrand de Geest’
Fries Museum, Leeuwarden
6 September, 2025 – 1 March, 2026
friesmuseum.nl
Photography: Ruben van Vliet, Karen Polder
