Museum Belvedere: 'Floods in Pakistan, forest fires in Moscow, a cabinet tolerated by Wilders. How lousy can a landscape be?'

'In this museum, we so often extol the landscape, this time we wanted to show the destruction, dejection and impending change of the landscape.' According to Han Steenbruggen, director of Belvedere Museum in Heerenveen-Oranjewoud, it was time for an exhibition showing what war, natural disasters and climate change do to the landscape: 'With this exhibition, we reflect and react to what you see happening around you right now: floods in Pakistan, forest fires in Moscow and then also a cabinet in the making with Wilders' support. You wonder how lousy a landscape can be."

Steenbruggen built the exhibition around four apocalyptic works by the painter Olphaert den Otter with the 'Elements' theme: A waterfront city, set ablaze by heavy bombing, was given the subtitle 'Fire'. In another work titled 'Water', den Otter depicted a flooded polder landscape in egg tempera rather precise weather. Gently, the sun strokes the little churches and cottages that are underwater. No fatalistic depiction here: when the water subsides, life will surely take its course again. In his painting 'The Buitenplaats', from another series, Den Otter shows us the last piece of earth that is still habitable. You see a hut with a red-painted pallet as a floor and a television screen on top: a silent reference to human presence? Around it mostly water with the contours of half-flooded continents here and there. "This is what our world is going to look like in the future," Den Otter seems to want to say. A subtle but also melancholic work, which, for all its romanticism and beauty, nevertheless wrings a little.

The devastated forests that Henri de Haas watercolours or the mass grave he set up in sepia colours are significantly less subtle. His work stems from the war trauma his family members suffered in two world wars. And indeed, there is no getting around it: death has done its job well in these watercolours. Renie Spoelstra, who trained in film and photography alongside the usual academy work, still uses the principles from the photography profession in her black-and-white drawings. Her huge works on paper full of drop shadows and evening light are a nice mix of drawing and photography. The drawings are created layer upon layer with charcoal. There is a veiled menace to such a dark, nocturnal farming landscape. But they are also subtle works that impress with their scale and technical quality. The impactful work of Raquel Maulwurf by contrast, contains sky-high statements. In her black-and-white drawings, bombs and shells explode full of spectacular effects; they set the dark evening sky ablaze. The giant mushroom cloud after the detonation of an atomic bomb looks wonderful in all its dazzling light, even though we know what kind of damage such a bomb can cause. And that, at the same time, is the interesting thing about this exhibition: the beauty of the works contrasts greatly with the subjects. If you look a little longer, shudder and dismay take over.

'Beroerd Landschap' until 24 October at Museum Belvédère, Heerenveen-Oranjewoud: www.museumbelvedere.nl