The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for
modern art
Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...
,
contemporary art
Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...
, and design located in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, Netherlands.Stedelijk Museum , I Amsterdam. Retrieved on 26 September 2012.
The 19th century building was designed by Adriaan Willem Weissman and the 21st century wing with the current entrance was designed by Benthem Crouwel Architects. It is located at the Museum Square in the
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
Van Gogh Museum
The Van Gogh Museum () is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opened on ...
, the
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...
, and the
Concertgebouw
The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls i ...
.
The collection comprises modern and contemporary art and design from the early 20th century up to the 21st century. It features artists such as
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...
,
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
,
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (6 May 1880 – 15 June 1938) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker and one of the founders of the artists group Die Brücke or "The Bridge", a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism in 20th-centur ...
,
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...
,
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...
,
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...
,
Karel Appel
Christiaan Karel Appel (; 25 April 1921 – 3 May 2006) was a Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet. He started painting at the age of fourteen and studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in the 1940s. He was one of the founders of the avant-gard ...
,
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
,
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter El ...
,
Marlene Dumas
Marlene Dumas (born 3 August 1953) is a South African artist and painter currently based in the Netherlands.
Life and work
Dumas was born in 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in Kuils River in the Western Cape, where her father had ...
,
Lucio Fontana
Lucio Fontana (; 19 February 1899 – 7 September 1968) was an Argentine-Italian painter, sculptor and theorist. He is mostly known as the founder of Spatialism.
Early life
Born in Rosario, to Italian immigrant parents, he was t ...
, and
Gilbert & George
Gilbert Prousch, sometimes referred to as Gilbert Proesch (born 17 September 1943 in San Martin de Tor, Italy), and George Passmore (born 8 January 1942 in Plymouth, United Kingdom), are two artists who work together as the collaborative art d ...
.
In 2015, the museum had an estimated 675,000 visitors.
History
19th century
The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, opened on 14 September 1895 as an initiative of the local authority and private individuals. The Dutch Neo-Renaissance style museum building was designed by Dutch architect Adriaan Willem Weissman as part of a modernization project spearheaded by local citizens starting in 1850. The construction of the building was largely funded in 1890 by Sophia Adriana de Bruyn. Specifically, it was built under the Vereeniging tot het Vormen van een Verzameling van Hedendaagsche Kunst (VVHK, Society for the formation of a public collection of contemporary art), which was founded in 1874, to house de Bruyn's collection of art and antiques that she donated to the city along with a considerable sum of money. The Van Eeghen family also contributed to the construction costs and donated paintings from the collection of Christiaan Pieter van Eeghen. The building was constructed between 1891 and 1895 at Paulus Potterstraat, a short walking distance from the
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...
. The museum's original collection included militaria of the Amsterdam militia, Asiatic art, and artifacts from the Museum of Chronometry and the Medical-Pharmaceutical Museum.
20th century
In 1905, Cornelis Baard was appointed curator of the Stedelijk and promoted to museum director in 1920. During his time as curator, the local authority began building its own collection of modern art. The Great Depression in the Netherlands led to municipal cutbacks and an increased need for policy reviews in the first half of the 1930s. In 1932, a purchasing committee was established with two members from the VVHK and two from the local authority. These four figures oversaw all art purchases for the museum, notably works of Hague and Amsterdam Impressionism and pieces by international contemporaries.
The museum began actively acquiring art in 1930. In 1933, M.B.B. Nijkerk's collection of books came to the Stedelijk, which was later expanded to include aesthetic book design and typography. The Museum of Applied Art opened on the ground floor of the west wing on 15 December 1934. This collection included furniture, glass, pottery, and china, graphic design and posters, textiles, small sculptures and masks, batik, metalwork, and stained glass with an emphasis on Dutch work from around the turn of the century.
In 1936, David Röell, who had previously worked at the
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...
and was secretary of the VVHK, took over as museum director. Röell appointed
Willem Sandberg
Jonkheer Willem Jacob Henri Berend Sandberg (24 October 1897 – 9 April 1984) known as Willem Sandberg was a Dutch typographer, museum curator, and member of the Dutch resistance during World War II.
Early life and career
Sandberg was born i ...
as the new curator in January 1938. Sandberg eventually took over as director of the museum in 1945. By 1962, the VVHK handed over most of its collection, including works by
George Hendrik Breitner
George Hendrik Breitner (12 September 1857 – 5 June 1923) was a Dutch painter and photographer. An important figure in Amsterdam Impressionism, he is noted especially for his paintings of street scenes and harbours in a realistic style. He pa ...
,
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...
,
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast ...
,
Gustave Courbet
Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...
,
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...
, and
Johan Jongkind
Johan Barthold Jongkind (3 June 1819 – 9 February 1891) was a Dutch painter and printmaker. He painted marine landscapes in a free manner and is regarded as a forerunner of Impressionism.
Biography
Jongkind was born in the town of Lattro ...
.
Under the direction of Sandberg, the Stedelijk started a department of applied art in 1945 and a department of prints and drawings in 1954. At the start of 1950, the Stedelijk also began to present modern music and films. The annex known as the Sandberg Wing was built in 1954 to accommodate experimental art. By 1956, a reading room, print room, a museum restaurant and garden, and a new auditorium for film screenings and musical performances were added. Sandberg acquired a group of works by Russian artist
in 1958. In the same year, Sandberg began acquiring photography for the museum's collection; the Stedelijk was the first western European museum for
modern art
Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...
to collect photography. The collection includes seminal photographers of both the Dutch and international
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
in the interbellum period (such as
Erwin Blumenfeld
Erwin Blumenfeld (26 January 1897 – 4 July 1969) was an American photographer of German origin. He was born in Berlin, and in 1941 emigrated to the United States, where he soon became a successful and well-paid fashion photographer, working a ...
,
László Moholy-Nagy
László Moholy-Nagy (; ; born László Weisz; July 20, 1895 – November 24, 1946) was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the i ...
and
Man Ray
Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, although his t ...
), an extensive selection of post-war Dutch photographers (including Eva Besnyö,
Ed van der Elsken
Eduard van der Elsken (10 March 1925 – 28 December 1990) was a Dutch photographer and filmmaker.
His imagery provides quotidian, intimate and autobiographic perspectives on the European zeitgeist spanning the period of the Second World War in ...
and Cas Oorthuys), artist portraits,
photojournalism
Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...
, and autonomous fine art photography from the 1970s onward.
During World War II, the Stedelijk collection and that of the
Amsterdam Museum
The Amsterdam Museum, known until 2010 as the Amsterdam Historical Museum, is an Amsterdam-based museum dedicated to the city's past and present. Due to the renovation of its main location, the museum is temporarily located in the building the Amst ...
were transferred for safekeeping to a bunker in the sand-hills near
Santpoort
{{Infobox settlement
, name = Santpoort-Zuid
, settlement_type = Village
, other_name =
, native_name =
, native_name_lang = nl
, image_skyline = 37110 Ruine van Brederode ...
. Museum staff took turns keeping watch. Sandberg only just managed to evade arrest; in 1943, when a German search party was sent to apprehend him, Sandberg fled by bicycle into the dunes. Despite the upheavals of war, the Stedelijk continued to hold exhibitions.
Works by
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (6 May 1880 – 15 June 1938) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker and one of the founders of the artists group Die Brücke or "The Bridge", a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism in 20th-centur ...
and
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...
were added to the collection at the end of the 1940s and 1950s. During this time, the Stedelijk also acquired artworks by
De Stijl
''De Stijl'' (; ), Dutch for "The Style", also known as Neoplasticism, was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 in Leiden. De Stijl consisted of artists and architects. In a more narrow sense, the term ''De Stijl'' is used to refer to a body ...
and related international movements such as Russian
Constructivism
Constructivism may refer to:
Art and architecture
* Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes
* Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...
and
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
.
Edy de Wilde, who had run the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven, took over as director from 1963 to 1985. He began the first collection of American contemporary art at the Stedelijk. Under his direction, in 1971, debates about the museum's social and educational functions sparked the formation of a communications department. In the early 1970s, the museum made its first acquisitions of
video art
Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting ...
by European artists including Dibbets and
Gilbert & George
Gilbert Prousch, sometimes referred to as Gilbert Proesch (born 17 September 1943 in San Martin de Tor, Italy), and George Passmore (born 8 January 1942 in Plymouth, United Kingdom), are two artists who work together as the collaborative art d ...
. Today, the collection of video art contains around 900 works and installations, including works by
Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super hi ...
,
Bill Viola
Bill Viola ( , ; born 1951) is an American contemporary video artist whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in new media. His works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human experiences such as birth, d ...
and
Bruce Nauman
Bruce Nauman (born December 6, 1941) is an American artist. His practice spans a broad range of media including sculpture, photography, neon, video, drawing, printmaking, and performance. Nauman lives near Galisteo, New Mexico.
Life and work ...
. By the mid-1970s, after the last period rooms were closed, the Stedelijk became exclusively a museum for modern art.
and other Russian avant-garde artists from the collection of the Khardzhiev-Chaga Cultural Centre were added to the museum's collection of Ukrainian / Russian / Soviet art.
At the end of 2003, the Adriaan Willem Weissman building was closed at the insistence of the fire department; renovation work began. The Stedelijk took up temporary residence in the Post CS Building, where it would remain for 4.5 years. In 2005, the museum established a partnership with The Broere Charitable Foundation; on behalf of the Monique Zajfen Collection, the museum acquired contemporary European artworks, which were placed at the museum on long-term loan. In 2006, debates and lectures were organized in the context of the exhibition 'Mapping the City', which explored the relationship of artists to the city. Space was created called the 'Docking Station' for monthly presentations of work by emerging artists. In 2008, 'Other voices, other rooms', an exhibition highlighting the video work of
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
, drew 600,000 visitors.
In 2006, the city council privatized the Stedelijk. It became a more businesslike enterprise that leases the museum building from the city and, on behalf of the council, mounts exhibitions and manages, maintains, and adds to the municipal collection.
Starting in late 2008, the Stedelijk underwent major construction. In response to this, the museum started the "Stedelijk goes to Town" project to maintain a visual presence within the city of Amsterdam while the building was being renovated. The project ran until the latter half of 2009 and featured a series of workshops, lectures, and presentations in various locations throughout Amsterdam.
From August 2010 until January 2011, the Stedelijk Museum opened its doors with a unique program called "The Temporary Stedelijk" in the restored, yet unfinished historical building. After welcoming 'art, artists and the public' back through its doors, the Stedelijk continued with this temporary program. "The Temporary Stedelijk 2"The Temporary Stedelijk 2 – Focus on the Collection . Stedelijk Museum. Retrieved on 29 March 2012. opened in March 2011 and focused on the renowned collection of modern and contemporary art and design. The exhibition showcased the breadth of the museum's collection and exhibited works by
Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being ...
Charley Toorop
Charley Toorop (24 March 1891 – 5 November 1955) was a Dutch painter and lithographer. Her full name was Annie Caroline Pontifex Fernhout-Toorop.
Life
Charley Toorop was born in Katwijk. She was the daughter of Jan Toorop and Annie Hall. ...
,
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...
,
Donald Judd
Donald Clarence Judd (June 3, 1928February 12, 1994) was an American artist associated with minimalism (a term he nonetheless stridently disavowed).Tate Modern websit"Tate Modern Past Exhibitions Donald Judd" Retrieved on February 19, 2009. In ...
,
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter El ...
,
Yves Klein
Yves Klein (; 28 April 1928 – 6 June 1962) was a French artist and an important figure in post-war European art. He was a leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by art critic Pierre Restany. Klein w ...
and
Bruce Nauman
Bruce Nauman (born December 6, 1941) is an American artist. His practice spans a broad range of media including sculpture, photography, neon, video, drawing, printmaking, and performance. Nauman lives near Galisteo, New Mexico.
Life and work ...
, among others. Selections from the collections were presented on a rotating basis. "The Temporary Stedelijk 3" began in October 2011 and featured exhibitions, presentations, and activities located throughout Amsterdam.
The museum reopened for the general public on 23 September 2012 with the group show “Beyond Imagination.” The artists included in this inaugural show were James Beckett, Eric Bell and Kristoffer Frick, Rossella Biscotti, Eglé Budvytyté, Jeremiah Day, Christian Friedrich, Sara van der Heide, Suchan Kinoshita, Susanne Kriemann, Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, Snejanka Mihaylova, Rory Pilgrim, Falke Pisano, Julika Rudelius, Fiona Tan, Jennifer Tee, Jan van Toorn, Vincent Vulsma and Andros Zins-Browne. In the first month after the reopening, the museum had over 95,000 visitors. In 2017, the Stedelijk Museum hosted events for the 17th edition of the
Sonic Acts
Sonic Acts is an organisation for the research, development and production of works at the intersection of art, science and theory. It also commissions and co-produces new works, often in collaboration with international festivals, arts organisati ...
Festival.
Vandalism and theft
On 21 March 1986, Gerard Jan van Bladeren cut the painting ''
Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue
''Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue'' is a series of four large-scale paintings by Barnett Newman painted between 1966 and 1970. Two of them have been the subject of vandalistic attacks in museums. The series' name was a reference to '' Who's ...
III'' (1967) by
Barnett Newman
Barnett Newman (January 29, 1905 – July 4, 1970) was an American artist. He has been critically regarded as one of the major figures of abstract expressionism, and one of the foremost color field painters. His paintings explore the sense o ...
with a
utility knife
A utility knife is any type of knife used for general manual work purposes.Peterson, Harold L., ''Daggers and Fighting Knives of the Western World'', London: Herbert Jenkins Ltd., , p. 1 Such knives were originally fixed-blade knives with du ...
during a
psychotic episode
Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior t ...
. He was sentenced to eight months in jail and two years probation, and was banned from the museum for three years. On 21 November 1997, Van Bladeren, the same vandal, cut the painting ''Cathedra'' (1951), also by Barnett Newman. In court, he pleaded insanity and was not convicted, but was banned from the museum permanently.
On 20 May 1988, the first and only art theft from the Stedelijk took place. The three paintings ''Vase with Carnations'' (1886) by
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...
, ''Street in Nevers'' (1874) by
Johan Jongkind
Johan Barthold Jongkind (3 June 1819 – 9 February 1891) was a Dutch painter and printmaker. He painted marine landscapes in a free manner and is regarded as a forerunner of Impressionism.
Biography
Jongkind was born in the town of Lattro ...
, and ''Still life with bottles and apples'' by
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...
were stolen during a break-in. On 31 May 1988, all three paintings were recovered undamaged by police pretending to be buyers. The thief was arrested and convicted.
On 15 May 2011,
AFC Ajax
Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...
's victory in the national competition was celebrated at the Museum Square. During the celebration, supporters damaged the Benthem Crouwel Wing's rooftop and glass panels, resulting in €400,000 of damage and prompting a change in venue to the
Amsterdam Arena
The Johan Cruyff Arena ( nl, Johan Cruijff Arena ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 ...
for the celebration of AFC Ajax's subsequent 2012 victory. Despite these issues, the city government of Amsterdam has stated that it will still consider using the Museum Square as a potential location for large events.
Collection
The museum collection holds almost 90,000 objects, collected since 1874. With important clusters and cores focusing on
De Stijl
''De Stijl'' (; ), Dutch for "The Style", also known as Neoplasticism, was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 in Leiden. De Stijl consisted of artists and architects. In a more narrow sense, the term ''De Stijl'' is used to refer to a body ...
,
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
Neo-Impressionism
Neo-Impressionism is a term coined by French art critic Félix Fénéon in 1886 to describe an art movement founded by Georges Seurat. Seurat's most renowned masterpiece, ''A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'', marked the beginnin ...
, the collection represents virtually every significant movement in art and design of the 20th and 21st centuries. The Stedelijk also has a comprehensive collection of drawings and paintings by
Post-Impressionists
Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction aga ...
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...
and
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...
exemplify art from the late 19th century. The collection is sub-divided into the following disciplines:
* Painting
* Sculpture
*
Installation
Installation may refer to:
* Installation (computer programs)
* Installation, work of installation art
* Installation, military base
* Installation, into an office, especially a religious (Installation (Christianity) Installation is a Christian li ...
* Moving image and sound
* Prints and drawings
* Posters
* Photography
*
Graphic design
Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...
*
Industrial design
Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advan ...
Lucebert
Lucebert (; Lubertus Jacobus Swaanswijk; 15 September 1924 – 10 May 1994) was a Dutch artist who first became known as the poet of the COBRA movement.
He was born in Amsterdam in 1924. He entered the Institute for Arts and Crafts in 193 ...
archive
In early 2010, the Stedelijk Museum partnered up with design agency Fabrique and augmented reality firm Layar to develop virtual art tours called "ARtours". Using smartphone technology, visitors are treated to additional stories and images about the collection both inside the museum and outside around the city. In the final phase of this project at the end of 2011, the public was invited to add their own stories, images, and other information through the open source platform.
In 2018, a mural created by
Keith Haring
Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his wor ...
in 1986 on the Stedelijk Museum's storage facility was revealed after being covered by sheets of aluminum a few years after its completion. The 40-foot-mural is the artist's largest public work and was created for his first solo museum exhibition.
Digitization
In November 2009, the museum started a project to digitize the historical archive, which spans from 1895 to 1980. The archive contains around 1.5 million documents in around 7,000 folders, and includes correspondence letters of the director and buyer records. Ownership of the documents has been officially transferred to the Amsterdam City Archive, but the documents will remain in the Stedelijk Museum until the digitization project is completed.
Weissman Building
Dutch architect Adriaan Willem Weissman designed the building for the Stedelijk in 1895. The design of the upper façade and tower in a combination of pale stone and red brick give the exterior of the building a 16th-century Dutch Neo-Renaissance look. In 1938, director
Willem Sandberg
Jonkheer Willem Jacob Henri Berend Sandberg (24 October 1897 – 9 April 1984) known as Willem Sandberg was a Dutch typographer, museum curator, and member of the Dutch resistance during World War II.
Early life and career
Sandberg was born i ...
had the interior walls painted white, creating 'white cube' gallery spaces. Some years later, in 1954, Sandberg had the opportunity to build a largely glass extension flanking the Van Baerlestraat, which came to be referred to as the "Sandberg Wing". Sandberg also replaced the museum's heavy, rather uninviting doors with a glass entrance. In 1934, Baard turned the loggia above the museum's main entrance into an exhibition space and had several galleries repainted in light colors. When Röell took over in 1936, he installed light wall coverings inside some of the galleries and had new doorways put in on the upper-floor galleries. Then, in 1938, Röell had the polychrome staircase whitewashed and replaced the yellow glass in the skylight with lime-washed glass.
Due to poor maintenance and lack of modern facilities, including climate control, the building was deemed unable to meet modern standards. Additionally, it did not have the space to feature the highlights of the collection on permanent display. Since its beginnings, over a century ago, the collection had vastly increased. The art depots and workshops had also become far too cramped. In 1993, a leak in the roof of the museum damaged several large paintings, among them pieces by
Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 – December 27, 2015) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, c ...
and
Julian Schnabel
Julian Schnabel (born October 26, 1951) is an American painter and filmmaker. In the 1980s, he received international attention for his "plate paintings" — with broken ceramic plates set onto large-scale paintings. Since the 1990s, he has been ...
. A competition to renovate the museum was first held in the early 1990s, with
Robert Venturi
Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major architectural figures of the twentieth century.
Together with h ...
beating
Rem Koolhaas
Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a re ...
, Wim Quist, and Carel Weeber to the job. Venturi was replaced by
Álvaro Siza Vieira
Álvaro Joaquim de Melo Siza Vieira (born 25 June 1933) is a Portuguese architect, and architectural educator. He is internationally known as Álvaro Siza () and in Portugal as Siza Vieira ().
Early life and education
Siza was born in Matosin ...
in 1996.
Relocation and addition
The old building was forced to close in January 2004 when it no longer complied with fire regulations. The Stedelijk was temporarily relocated to the Post-CS building, an old building of the Postal Service close to the Amsterdam Central Station. When the Post-CS location was closed in 2008, a book called "Stedelijk Museum CS – Prospect/Retrospect" was published to commemorate some of the successful expositions and artists during this period, like
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...
Michael Kimmelman
Michael Kimmelman (born May 8, 1958) is the architecture critic for ''The New York Times'' and has written about public housing, public space, landscape architecture, community development and equity, infrastructure and urban design. He has report ...
, architecture critic for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', wrote of the museum's addition, "I can't recall seeing a more ridiculous looking building than the new Stedelijk Museum." The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' called the extension "oversized, antiseptic and mismatched".
When Alvaro Siza had originally designed the plans, the reopening was scheduled for 2007. In 2004, when a new competition was held, it became clear that this date was not achievable. Although the renovated original building was completed in early 2010, conditions were not suitable for exhibiting artworks because there was no climate control system, which was to be installed in the new wing. The press poured criticism on the delays. A campaign by Dutch cultural entrepreneur Otto Nan, "Stedelijk Do Something", urged people to text their disappointment about the delays. This drew considerable media attention and a huge response from social networking sites like
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
. Nan hoped that what he referred to as an "amicable coup" would attract political attention with an occupation of Museum Square. By sending SMS messages, people could raise money to help the museum re-launch a little sooner. With even more delays in 2011 when contractor Midreth went bankrupt, the plan to re-open in the spring of 2010 was moved to 2012. The restored original building went ahead and opened with a temporary exposition in 2010, which attracted about 223,000 visitors.
Contractor VolkerWessels finished the construction in February 2012, after which the climate control system was set up. After eight years of work, the new Stedelijk opened on 23 September 2012. With the renovation and expansion, the highlights of the collection are on display in the old building in a series of changing presentations. The new wing consists of a large glassed entrance, which opens onto the Museum Square, and galleries for temporary exhibitions on the upper level and in the basement. It also houses the museum shop, restaurant and library, as well as an auditorium. The inaugural exhibition, entitled "Beyond Imagination", was a show of work by emerging Amsterdam artists. A retrospective of the late Los Angeles artist Mike Kelley followed in December 2012.
The completion of the project cost a total of €127M, €20M more than estimated in 2007, which was mostly funded by Amsterdam's city council.
Visual identity
In 1963,
Wim Crouwel
Willem Hendrik "Wim" Crouwel (; 21 November 1928 – 19 September 2019) was a Dutch graphic designer, type designer, and typographer.
Early life and education
Between 1947 and 1949, he studied Fine Arts at Academie Minerva in Groningen, th ...
and his design company, Total Design, began working for the Stedelijk Museum under the new director Eduard de Wilde. Crouwel designed catalogues, invitations, posters, and brochures using a consistent grid. He wanted to standardize the typography using the
Univers
Univers () is a large sans-serif typeface family designed by Adrian Frutiger and released by his employer Deberny & Peignot in 1957. Classified as a neo-grotesque sans-serif, one based on the model of nineteenth-century German typefaces such a ...
typeface since it has the same x height on every weight. This grid-like layout became known as the SM-design style.
Armand Mevis and Linda van Deursen redesigned the logo and visual identity of the museum in 2012, which was gradually unveiled with its re-opening on 23 September 2012. Mevis and van Deursen had previously designed the graphic identity of the temporary Stedelijk program from 2010 to 2012. The main aspect of the new logo is a large
sans-serif
In typography and lettering, a sans-serif, sans serif, gothic, or simply sans letterform is one that does not have extending features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke width variation than seri ...
S that is composed of the letters of the museum's name in capital letters. The typeface used is Union, a hybrid of
Helvetica
Helvetica (originally Neue Haas Grotesk) is a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann.
Helvetica is a neo-grotesque design, one influenced by the famous 19th century (1890s) ...
and
Arial
Arial (also called Arial MT) is a sans-serif typeface and set of computer fonts in the neo-grotesque style. Fonts from the Arial family are included with all versions of Microsoft Windows from Windows 3.1 on, some other Microsoft software ap ...
, created by Czech typographer Radim Peško in 2009. Union is used for all of the museum's interior and exterior signage and additional materials and resources. The new logo visual identity was controversial at first, especially since Wim Crouwel's original logo was extremely admired and influential.
Organization
Originally a municipal body, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam became a
foundation
Foundation may refer to:
* Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization
** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S.
** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
on 1 January 2006, and is accountable to a supervisory board.
The museum had 138,720 visitors in 2011 and 300,000 visitors in 2012. In the first twelve months after the reopening in September 2012, the museum had 750,000 visitors.Ann Goldstein resigns as director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam as of 1 December 2013 (press release), Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 2013. Retrieved on 28 August 2013. In 2013, the museum had 700,000 visitors. It was the 4th most visited museum in the Netherlands, after the
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...
,
Van Gogh Museum
The Van Gogh Museum () is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opened on ...
, and
Anne Frank House
The Anne Frank House ( nl, Anne Frank Huis) is a writer's house and biographical museum dedicated to Jewish wartime diarist Anne Frank. The building is located on a canal called the Prinsengracht, close to the Westerkerk, in central Amsterdam ...
The Art Newspaper
''The Art Newspaper'' is a monthly print publication, with daily updates online, founded in 1990 and based in London and New York City. It covers news of the visual arts as they are affected by international politics and economics, developments ...
'', 2014. Retrieved on 28 June 2014. In 2014 and 2015, the museum had respectively 816,396 and .
Directors
* Jan Eduard van Someren Brand (1895–1906)Organization: Directors , Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Retrieved on 24 January 2013.
* Cornelis Baard (1906–1936)
* David Röell (1936–1945)
*
Willem Sandberg
Jonkheer Willem Jacob Henri Berend Sandberg (24 October 1897 – 9 April 1984) known as Willem Sandberg was a Dutch typographer, museum curator, and member of the Dutch resistance during World War II.
Early life and career
Sandberg was born i ...
Rudi Fuchs
Rudolf Herman "Rudi" Fuchs (born 28 April 1942) is a Dutch art historian and curator.
Personal life
Rudolf Herman Fuchs was born on 28 April 1942 in Eindhoven in the Netherlands. He studied art history from 1967 to 1975 at Leiden University, aft ...
(1993–2003)
* Hans van Beers (2003–2005)
* Gijs van Tuyl (2005–2009)
* Ann Goldstein (2010–2013; the last year as artistic director only)
* Karin van Gilst (2013–2017; as managing director)
*
Beatrix Ruf
Beatrix Ruf (born 1960, Singen, Germany) is a German art curator and art advisor who held the position of director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam between November 2014 and October 2017. Formerly she was director of the Kunsthalle Zurich. She i ...
The Art Newspaper
''The Art Newspaper'' is a monthly print publication, with daily updates online, founded in 1990 and based in London and New York City. It covers news of the visual arts as they are affected by international politics and economics, developments ...
Neue Zürcher Zeitung
The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a Swiss, German-language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zürich. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality ne ...
'', 17. Oktober 2017. (german)
* Rein Wolfs (since 2019; Director)
*Jacqueline Bongartz (since 2019; Managing Director)