Rarri Jackson meets Sientje Mesdag-van Houten
The first artist to take part in Mixed Mesdag is Rarri Jackson (alias of Jahje Ali, 1997). As a prelude to the programme, Museum Panorama Mesdag presents two works by Jackson in the Mesdag Galleries from 12 September 2026, inspired by the work of Sientje Mesdag-van Houten. Jackson’s contemporary interpretations are presented in historic gold frames and will temporarily occupy a prominent place within the collection display.
Rarri Jackson is known for his colourful and intuitive painting style. In his paintings, he reduces landscapes, cityscapes, still lifes and everyday scenes to clear forms, loose lines and bold fields of colour.
The choice of Jackson is no coincidence. Like Sientje Mesdag-van Houten, who was renowned in her time for her loose brushwork and deep, bold use of colour, Jackson uses colour to convey atmosphere, emotion, and memory. During a visit to Museum Panorama Mesdag, Jackson was struck by her work, in particular by the freedom of her brushwork and the intensity of her colours. Now, their visual languages converge: two artists who, each from their own time and perspective, show the incredible power of colour.
A new perspective on the collection
With Mixed Mesdag, Museum Panorama Mesdag aims not only to present its collection, but to allow it to speak anew time and again. Hendrik Willem and Sientje Mesdag-van Houten collected art, supported artists and gave emerging talent space and access to a network. This open and curious attitude provides the inspiration for this new programme.
The result is an encounter between different generations of artists. What do you see in a 19th-century work when you look at it through the eyes of an artist today? And what new stories emerge when past and present come together? Discover the first edition of Mixed Mesdag and see Rarri Jackson’s two new works in the Mesdag Galleries.
Flowers
In Sientje Mesdag-van Houten’s still life, chrysanthemums stand out against a dark background. With loose brushwork and deep, warm colours, she gives the flowers an almost tangible presence.
What strikes Rarri Jackson are the deep colours and loose brushwork. Jackson takes up the motif and brings it into his own world. He uses Mesdag-van Houten’s vase and flowers as his starting point, but amplifies the gesture: colour bursts apart, the flowers become more exuberant and the vase takes on a landscape of its own.
In this way, Jackson responds to Sientje Mesdag-van Houten’s artistic language from his own time.
“I try to translate Sientje’s intimacy and passion with my contemporary twist.” – Rarri Jackson.
Sientje Mesdag-van Houten (1834–1909), Chrysanthemums in a Vase, c. 1880–1900, oil on canvas, collection of Museum Panorama Mesdag.
Rarri Jackson (1997), Flowers, 2026, acrylic on canvas, in a historic frame from the museum collection.
Sheepfold
For this work, Rarri Jackson (1997) draws inspiration from a recurring motif in the oeuvre of Sientje Mesdag-van Houten: the sheepfold. He freely translates her subject into his own time and visual language.
Artist Rarri Jackson with museum director Minke Schat beside his work Sheepfold, 2026, acrylic on canvas, in a historic frame from the museum collection.
Sientje Mesdag-van Houten painted sheepfolds and flocks in the landscape on several occasions. Rarri Jackson responds to these landscapes. The sheepfold, sheep and trees return, now set within a bright and distinctive landscape of intense blue, green and white.
Where Sientje Mesdag-van Houten’s landscapes are often defined by atmosphere and earthy light, Jackson makes the image more contrasting, vivid in colour and at the same time dreamlike. The dark evening sky gives way to intense blue, the low light to white clouds, while the flock takes on a rhythmic presence through the almost repetitive movement of the clouds.
The subject remains recognisable, but the image unmistakably becomes part of Jackson’s own world.
“Sientje captured the world through her lens. I reduce that world to an uninhibited style.” – Rarri Jackson
