Louise te Poele (b. 1984) is a Dutch visual artist and curator. She is the initiator of Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, A Unique Dialogue Between Past and Present, which she organised in two editions at the Saatchi Gallery in London: in 2024 in collaboration with the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, and in 2025 in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum. Both editions were realised in partnership with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in London and with the support of the Mondriaan Fund.
At the core of her practice lies the recognition that reality is less self-evident than it often appears. Te Poele investigates how images can shift the way we look. An image, for her, doesn't need to explain itself, it should leave room for an open gaze, and for not-knowing. She brings together disparate objects, heritage pieces from museum collections alongside her own finds, such as fruit, a fragile pouch, or a strangely shaped branch, things that would never normally meet, and that suddenly seem to speak a shared language.
Where she worked primarily with photography for many years, her practice has expanded in recent years to include sculpture, installation, and film. Yet her work still begins in physical space, at the still-life table in her studio, her laboratory, where spatial sketches take shape and film ideas are born. Her process moves between intuition and precision, comparable to improvised jazz: nothing is fixed in advance, yet nothing is arbitrary. Beauty, in her work, is not an end in itself but an instrument, a way of holding the gaze and creating time to look differently.
Her work has been shown both in the Netherlands and internationally: in the Netherlands at venues including Museum Arnhem, the IJssel Biënnale, Unseen Amsterdam, and Art Rotterdam, and internationally in New York, London, Switzerland, Istanbul, and Miami, as well as at various locations in Germany and France. She was recently an artist in residence at Collège Néerlandais, part of the Cité Universitaire in Paris, and previously at Schloss Ringenberg in Germany. Her work is held in various collections, including those of the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and Foreign Affairs, Museum Arnhem, Museum Villa Mondriaan, the Dutch Embassy in Japan, the library of TU Delft, and the French State, in addition to numerous private collections. She is a recipient of a grant from the Mondriaan Fund.
Her recent work explores the relationship between control, measurability, and bodily experience. This new body of work will be on view from early September 2026 in a solo exhibition at Art Gallery O-68 in Velp.
BA Fine Art, ArtEZ University of the Arts, Arnhem
Fashion Design, ArtEZ University of the Arts, Arnhem
Artist in residence Collège Néerlandais, Paris
Artist in residence Kunstlokaal SAM, Lichtenvoorde
Artist in residence de Torenkamer, Amsterdam
Artist in residence Schloss Ringenberg, Hamminkeln, Germany
'Do you hear the bullfrogs outside?' Kennedy van der Laan Amsterdam
'Recovery Room, Franx, Zoetermeer, with the generous support of Cultuurfonds
'Une Touche Surréaliste' Collège Néerlandais, Paris
'Avant Paris' Atelier Néerlandais, Paris
'Oesters en Citroenen' Rijksmuseum Muiderslot
'Into the pleasure dome' Museum Villa Mondriaan
'Slice Me Nice' SBK gallery
'Achterhoekse Stillevens exhibition tour' Nieuwspoort Den Haag,
Provinciehuis Arnhem and all the municipalities of the Achterhoek
'Acid Flowers' Torch gallery, Amsterdam
'Post Ratio' Silencio, Paris
'Red listening to nothing' XBANK, Amsterdam
'Delta Lloyd solo exhibition' Amsterdam
'Met nieuwe ogen' Museum Arnhem
'La tête de Marie Antoinette est tombée' Torch gallery, Amsterdam
IJsselbiënnale
' Standing on the shoulders of Giants II - A Unique Dialogue Between Past and Present',
Saatchi Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum London
'Cracks in the Cave', Moya museum
'Standing on the shoulders of giants' Saatchi Gallery, London
'Espèse de cornichon! Musée de Carouge, Swiss
'Kleurig' duo show with Femke Jurrissen, Cultura Ede
'BIJT!' De Compagnie Veghel
'Togetherness' Kunstgemaal Bronckhorst
'For all eventualities pop up' Early Majority during Paris Fashion week Paris
‘Grond’ 'Kunstlokaal SAM
'A Something in a Summer's Day" gallery O-68
'We are stardust, we are golden, and we long to return to the garden' with Anya Janssen and Amos Mulder gallery O-68
'À propos-pandémie' Atelier Néerlandais Paris
'Wundersam Wirklich Magischer und Neo-Realismus aus den Niederlanden' in colab with Museum Arnhem, Museum Haus Opherdicke Unna, Germany
'Wundersam Wirklich Magischer und Neo-Realismus aus den Niederlanden' in colab with Museum Arnhem, Städtische Museen Gera, Germany
'Flori Culture' SBK gallery Amsterdam
'International Hanseatic Exhibition' Rostock, Germany
'Bloemenpracht bij MIJ' Museum IJsselstein
'We are food' Museum Jan Cunen
'Frankenstein ik denk dus ik ben' Museum de Museumfabriek
'Jong en Veelbelovend' in colab with Foam Photographymuseum Museum Villa Mondriaan
'Grayscale' Torch gallery Amsterdam
'In de geest van Piere janssen...' Museum Arnhem
'Tradition and Innovation of Dutch Design' presented by Mikimoto and the Dutch Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Japan, curated by Lenn Cox, Japan
Art Rotterdam
Unseen, Amsterdam
Volta, Basel, CH
London Artfair, represented by Art Gallery O-68, London
Unseen Amsterdam, represented by Art Gallery O-68
Unseen Amsterdam, represented by Art Gallery O-68
Big Art, represented by Art Gallery O-68, Amsterdam
Unfair, Amsterdam
Unfair, Amsterdam
Vouch, Amsterdam
Art Rotterdam, represented by Torch gallery
Art Amsterdam, represented by Torch gallery
This Art Fair, represented by Torch gallery, Amsterdam
Art Miami, represented Torch gallery, Miami
Unseen, represented by Torch gallery, Amsterdam
Citroën Art Fair, represented by Torch gallery, Amsterdam
Mondriaan fund, art commission Stichting Groot Deunk, 'Concentric Spheres'
Cultuurfonds, Kunstgarage Franx, 'Recovery Room'
Cultuurprijs Arnhem
Nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award
Starters Stipendium Mondrian Fund
Finalist Hyères Photo
Art commission, 'Boven het maaiveld dromen voor morgen' Museum M
Art commission, 'Gateway of the unexpected, commission for Kingsday', Amphion - Gemeente Doetinchem,
Art commission, 'Surrounded By What's Called Everything Else' TU Delft Library, TU Delft Heritage and Art Collections’,
Art commission, Allumnious, Almere, a temporary spatial work in public space
Art commission, 'Concentric Spheres' a permanent spatial work in public space,
for Stichting Groot Deunk, supported by the Mondrian Fund, Provincie Gelderland and Gemeente Aalten
Art commision, Graafschap College
Art commission, Reframing HERstory Art Foundation
Art commission, Early Majority, Paris
Art commission, Fischer paper AG, CH
Set design for the dance film 'Mamuska' in colab with Maison the Faux, for Roni Haver, Nite Delivery program, Club Guy and Roni, Noord Nederland Toneel
Art commission, in colab with Maison the Faux, for Club Guy and Roni, Nite Delivery program, Noord Nederlands Toneel
Art commission, 'JOR' and 'the University of Nijmegen'
Art commsion, 'Huize te Manpad'
Lustrum, concept and art direction with Wout Kemkens, Atelier Néerlandais, Paris
Art commission, Narratives project, Provincie Gelderland
Art commission, Claudia Sträter
Art commission, Gelders Archief and Gelders Erfgoed
Art commission, Mikimoto and the Dutch Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands,
curated by Lenn Cox, Japan
Standing on the shoulders of giants - A Unique Dialoge between the past and the present, Saatchy Gallery London 22 November 2025 - 12 Januari 2026 ( initiator and artist - curator)
Standing on the shoulders of giants - A celebration of Dutch Female Artists, Saatchy Gallery London 7 March - 14 May 2024 ( initiator and artist - curator)
Curating the program ' Vrijheid' around the artwork ‘ Concentric Sphere’ including workshops,
a podcast and an exhibition in collaboration with 'het Nationale Onderduik Museum'
Workshops Graafschap college - Museum Arnhem
'Stilleven workshop' Erfgoed Festival Gelderland kasteel Cannenburch Vaassen
Jury member Gelderse Roos award
Jury member Kunstbende Zuid Nederland
Workshop interactive Pronk still life, Rijksmuseum Twenthe
Artistic concept for the augmented reality app AR+T
Photographic image teacher at the ArtEZ Fashion Design department Arnhem
‘ Saatchi Gallery biedt tien vrouwelijke kunstenaars uit Nederland een ‘zo hoog mogelijk podium’ Volkskrant, national newspaper
‘ Troost in de harmonie van een stilleven’, Noord Hollands Dagblad, newspaper
‘de Aardappel’ NRC magazine, national newspaper
'Kunst in de buitenlucht - zomer 2021' Mister Motley, online
Jurisprudentiekunst, Mr. online
Wundersam Wirklich,Magischer und Neo-Realismus aus den Niederlanden, Weltkunst Zeit online
Magischer Realismus aus den Niederlanden in Gera, Süddeutsche Zeitung
De Blauwe Hond, ' Echt Nep' arty TV show for kids, NPO Zapp
'Acid Flowers' Wall Street International Magazine, online
'Kijk en Ontdek de Achterhoekse gemeenten als stilleven' de Gelderlander newspaper
'Stillevens als surrealistische kijkdozen' by Maarten Buser, Mister Motley magazine
'Moderne stillevens komen tot leven' by Nico Hofstra, HP de Tijd, online
'De Levende stillevens van Louise te Poele' by Rosa Boland, VICE magazine
'Dynamische stillevens van Louise te Poele' by Jackelien Top, Pallet magazine
Part of 'Oogmerk' a series of artist's portraids produced by Productiehuis Plaatsmaken
Radioshow guest at ' Nooit meer slapen' broadcasted by VPRO radio
'Fotokunstenaar Louise te Poele wil haar werk bezielen' by Joke Beeckmans, NRC newspaper
'Waarom kwispelt de dode vis?' by Myriam Verschaeren, Canvas Belgium online
'Portraits of Farmers' by Lix Xu Vision Magazine Hong Kong
'Huh?' zei Teuntje, 'klik' zei de camera' by Diewertje mertens, Parool newspaper
'Portfolio review Louise te Poele' the British Journal of photography magazine
'In de zin van' Trouw newspaper
Achterhoekse Stillevens, Publisher: Uitgeverij Hermans, ISBN: 9789492108227
Wundersam Wirklich, Publisher: Verlag Kettler, ISBN:3862067807
Met nieuwe ogen, in colab with Museum Arnhem and Torch gallery, artist edition
Lookbook, Publisher: ArtEZ Press, ISBN: 9789491444128
Famers, Publisher: ArtEZ Press and Wbooks, ISBN: 9492108224
Museum Arnhem, Museum Villa Mondriaan, Kunstcollectie Rijksoverheid Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken, Kunstcollectie Provincie Gelderland, NN group, Menzis, Akzo Nobel, Gelderse Sleutelwerken, Art collection of the state of France, Art collection of the Dutch Embassy in Japan, in addition to various private art collections.
