The Amsterdam Museum is temporarily without a permanent location. Their own house, the Burgerweeshuis, is in need of a thorough renovation. But even without its own place, the museum continues to tell the stories of the city.
In the first room of the last exhibition in the Museum aan de Amstel it is immediately a hit: where the showpieces of the Amsterdam Museum were previously displayed, it is now the turn of artist Raquel van Haver.
No fewer than six monumental group portraits fill the space. The museum has plenty of group portraits, but these are the chic residents of the city who had themselves immortalized for a lot of money in the seventeenth century.
Van Haver’s group portraits are of a completely different order. These are ordinary Amsterdam residents who are committed to their city in many areas. They may be people who are concerned with the quality of life in their neighborhood or people who are active in the cultural world. But Amsterdam residents have also been portrayed who run the homeless newspaper.
Thick layers of paint
Van Haver is not stingy with paint. Most portraits consist of five thick layers of paint. She has her own tricks to ensure that the paint dries on time, she says. “I know stories by Karel Appels that were still dripping after twenty-five years.” She wants to avoid that at all times.
“It’s reasonable now. The outer layer has now dried. You can just touch it. A few years ago we had work brought in soaking wet. That was a bit scary. But this time you can just grab it. It’s still not super dry. That will take another five, six, seven years.”
Future
“Raquel van Haver’s portraits are part of Refresh Amsterdam, an art biennial where we each invite artists to reflect on a theme,” explains curator Roberto Luis Martins.
This time the theme has been chosenfuture. Artists from all over the country were invited through an open call to give their vision of the future. For example, one of the artists chose to give the Amsterdam metro stops a new name.
Stops likeNieuwmarkt or Waterlooplein were renamed Peaceful or Gpatience, in the hope that the names would have a positive effect on travelers.
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