Image: © Karel Moortgat
The Jakob Smitsmuseum in Mol and the Emile Van Dorenmuseum in Genk will jointly present ‘Gemaakt om geschilderd te worden: Kunstenaarskolonies in de Kempen 1840-1920’, an exhibition about the artists’ colonies that developed in the Kempen region of Belgium. The two-venue exhibition opens on 19 September 2026 and runs through 17 January 2027.
The exhibition takes its starting point in the period from the 1840s, when Belgium was undergoing rapid industrialisation. During those decades, artists began travelling to the Kempen, drawn to its extensive heathlands, fens, sandy roads and pine forests. The region’s light—described by the museums as sometimes grey and silvery, and at other times warm and golden—was an important attraction.
Villages including Genk, Mol, Kalmthout and Wechelderzande became associated with artists such as Adrien Joseph Heymans, Jakob Smits, Joseph Coosemans and Emile Van Doren. Away from the pressures of the city, painters found subjects in heathland landscapes, shepherds and flocks, quiet villages and winding sandy paths. The exhibition presents the Kempen as both a place of refuge and a setting for experiments with light, colour and composition in direct contact with nature.
Works by Heymans, Smits, Coosemans and Van Doren will be shown alongside paintings by Van de Velde, Carpentier, Roffiaen and Verstraete. The source material describes the presentation as bringing together works that illustrate how the Kempen became a distinctive source of artistic inspiration between 1840 and 1920. It does not specify the number of works or provide a complete checklist.
The Jakob Smitsmuseum is dedicated to the life and work of Jakob Smits and presents material connected with the ‘Molse school’, as well as a collection, online catalogue and scientific-research resources. Its current website lists the forthcoming project under its exhibition programme. The Emile Van Dorenmuseum in Genk is identified as the collaborating institution and second venue for the exhibition.
At the Jakob Smitsmuseum, the exhibition is listed at Sluis 155a in Mol, with a base admission price of €5. The museum’s published schedule gives the run as Saturday 19 September 2026, from 13:00, to Sunday 17 January 2027, at 17:00. The same date range applies to the joint presentation at the Jakob Smitsmuseum and the Emile Van Dorenmuseum in Genk.
