Marine painter Robert Mols in a retrospective exhibition
The scion of a wealthy and artistic Antwerp family, Robert Mols (1848-1903) was a privileged witness to the transformation that shipping underwent in the second half of the nineteenth century. Mols captured that evolution in numerous port and harbor views of his hometown and other European port cities, works that often excel in photographic detail. Although Robert Mols was a talented and prolific artist, who achieved some fame in his time and was well in the market, his work has fallen out of the public eye today.
This was the first exhibition after his death devoted entirely to his oeuvre.
View of the roadsted of Antwerp, Robert Mols, MAS - AS.1998.011.001
MAS meets CEPA meets VNSM
With this expo, the Antwerp port employers' organization CEPA announced a structural collaboration with the 'Friends of the New Shipping Museum', with the aim of sharing the rich collection of art and heritage with the public.
In addition to works from the Friends' collection, the expo featured loans from the Royal Yacht Club of Belgium and private collectors. The MAS also loaned works. The impressive Rede van Hamburg (MAS) and Rede van Antwerpen (KMSKA) were unfortunately too large for the exhibition space. A smaller, but no less detailed Antwerp roadsted view and ship models attributed to Mols, were the eye-catchers from the MAS collection.
Not to miss
The exhibition was open until the end of December 2025 at Zaal Anker of CEPA, Brouwersvliet 33 in Antwerp.
Curator Patrick Verhoeven, general director of the international port organization IAPH and member of the Friends' advisory board, wrote the first-ever monograph on Mols in the margins of this exhibition. The richly illustrated book 'Robert Mols - Chroniqueur van het maritieme lanschap' was published by Pandora Publishers and is available in the MAS shop.