Good Mom / Bad Mom. Unraveling the Mother Myth

From March 28 to September 14, 2025, the exhibition Good Mom / Bad Mom. Unraveling the Mother Myth will be on display at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht. This large-scale group exhibition focuses on the many forms of motherhood: from ancient myths about ‘good mothers’ to contemporary, often personal reflections by new generations of artists.

The depiction of mother and child is one of the most well-known motifs in art history: in the Centraal Museum’s collection, there are dozens of often romanticized portraits of the Virgin Mary and her baby Jesus. With Good Mom / Bad Mom the museum breaks away from the cliché of the ‘good mother’ and deconstructs the myths surrounding motherhood by presenting perspectives that have long been invisible. The exhibition highlights themes such as the desire for children, loss, roles beyond traditional biological motherhood, emancipation, and self-determination. Through a transhistorical lens, artists such as Louise Bourgeois & Tracey Emin, Rineke Dijkstra, Marlene Dumas, Luchita Hurtado, Camille Henrot, Käthe Kollwitz, Tala Madani, Patricia Kaersenhout, Charley Toorop, and Billie Zangewa explore motherhood, care, and self-determination in all its facets.

The exhibition is curated by guest curator Heske ten Cate and contemporary art curator Laurie Cluitmans.