From 10 July, the Centraal Museum in Utrecht presents Twilight of the Gods – Frans Franciscus, a major solo exhibition devoted to the work of Dutch artist Frans Franciscus. For the first time, his oeuvre is presented in its full breadth, ranging from paintings created during his early years at the Utrecht Academy of Art to recent monumental works. Twilight of the Gods brings together paintings and ceramics spanning four decades alongside highlights from the Centraal Museum's own collection.
Bart Rutten, Artistic Director of the Centraal Museum: "Frans Franciscus is one of the most distinctive Dutch figurative painters of his generation. With wit and remarkable insight, he explores themes such as power, love, faith and human behaviour - subjects that are deeply embedded within the Centraal Museum's collection. In Twilight of the Gods*, his works enter into an unexpected dialogue with objects, photographs and paintings from the museum's collection."
Frans Franciscus (Utrecht, 1959) lives and works in Amsterdam. He studied at the Utrecht Art Academy from 1982 to 1986. Franciscus's work reflects humanity in all its facets. In a critical, insightful, and often witty manner, he portrays themes such as diversity, injustice, and love in beautiful, contemporary classical works. He often draws inspiration from sources across different eras, such as 17th-century works by Rubens and the Utrecht Caravaggist Hendrick ter Brugghen, 20th-century figurative paintings by Max Beckmann, and modern comic strips. His recent work, the large triptych No Masters or Kings When the Ritual Begins from 2025, bears witness to this. The work will be shown for the first time in the exhibition.
Coinciding with the exhibition, WBOOKS has published Twilight of the Gods | F. Franciscus – A Painter in Dialogue with Art History, written by guest curators Paul van den Akker, Emeritus Professor of Art History at the Open University, and Claar Griffioen, writer on visual art and literary fiction. Richly illustrated throughout, the publication offers a fresh overview of more than forty years of the artist's career.
