Exhibition 'Steve McQueen | Atlas' in De Pont Museum of contemporary art
From 21 March, De Pont Museum will present ATLAS, the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands by British artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen. The exhibition presents the new work Atlas (2026) – created for the exhibition– and the museum’s recent acquisition, SunshineState (2022). Alongside the sound work Untitled (2025) and the photo series Bounty (2024), these works form a powerful ensemble in which McQueen explores the boundaries of space, memory, imagination and time.
A filmmaker and thinker
With ATLAS, De Pont Museum presents an artist at the height of his powers: sharp in observation, deeply human in resonance. The four works unfold as a journey from the personal to the cosmic – from the intimate to the collective and from physical presence to the immensity of the universe. The exhibition reveals McQueen as both filmmaker and thinker, intertwining art, film and lived reality.
‘Steve McQueen is one of the best artists we have, whatever medium he chooses. He never gives you what you expect, and whatever you think you know about him, he always takes you somewhere else.’ – Adrian Searle, The Guardian, May 2024
Four works - four perspectives
In the spatial, multi-channel video installation Sunshine State (2022), McQueen interweaves film history with a personal family narrative. The work refers to the story of his father, who left the Caribbean island of Grenada for Florida in the 1950s to work as a seasonal labourer in the orange harvest. Close-ups of a burning sun alternate with excerpts from The Jazz Singer (1927), the first sound film in which lead actor Al Jolson appears in blackface.
Alongside the recent sound work Untitled (2025), visitors can view Bounty (2024), a 47-part colour photo series capturing flowers and plants on Grenada as they move through varying states of blossoming and decline. Beneath their exuberant beauty lies a reflection on colonial history, appropriation and resilience. The title evokes both abundance and plunder: bounty as wealth, and as spoils.
The new work Atlas (2026), commissioned by De Pont Museum, opens another perspective: that of the cosmos. Here McQueen uses astronomical data from the European Space Agency (ESA) Gaia mission for the first time. Working with davidkremers, Julian Humml and Alejandro Stefan Zavala, he transforms a vast body of telescope data into a mesmerising visual experience. Autonomous machine learning models translate scientific observations into a journey through space – as empirically grounded as it is poetic.
About Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen (London, 1969) is one of the most influential artists and filmmakers of his generation. His oeuvre – from radical video works to Oscar-winning feature films, such as 12 Years a Slave – explores themes of power, injustice, memory and physical vulnerability. With an exceptional sense of rhythm and form, McQueen shows how personal stories intertwine with historical structures.
