Wilde rokken. Cobra art as textile

Wilde rokken. Cobra art as textile presents textiles designed by members of the Cobra movement and produced through commissions with Dutch textile printers. In the post-war years, manufacturers invited artists to translate avant-garde painting into repeatable designs for garments and domestic textiles, positioning these collaborations as demonstrations of new printing methods and emerging textile technologies.  

The results initially provoked public backlash, with newspapers mocking manufacturers for aspiring to “art” and criticising artists for misunderstanding the technical constraints of textile design. Over time, as production expertise and visual languages aligned, the same designs shifted from scandal to desire, becoming widely embraced. 

Set against the post-war decades and into the 1960s, the exhibition also situates these textiles within a changing social landscape, including women’s growing agency over the body and the statements made through dress and the home. Wilde rokken. Cobra art as textile traces this arc from outrage to acceptance, showing how contested textiles became cultural signals of modern life. 

Wilde rokken. Cobra art as textile is guest cruated by Eloise Sweetman, in conversation with Museum Cobra’s programme team.