Exhibitions
Outsider Art Museum
The Outsider Art Museum is the only museum in the Netherlands that shows
leading art works by national and international Outsider Artists.
Experience the extraordinary art made by individuals who, for the most
part, are not formally trained as artists. Their work is authentic,
unconventional and goes against the grain.
The Outsider Art Museum presents surprising, unpolished art. The public
steps into a completely new world and is brought into the wild
rollercoaster of Outsider Artists, who sometimes go about their work
almost manically. The inner world of these artists is often so full that
it overflows into a great oeuvre. In the Outsider Art Museum, visitors
learn to look at art in a different way.
Current exhibition Dubuffet’s List
This exhibition offers you the unique opportunity to view the earliest collection of Outsider Art in Europe. Dubuffet’s List breathes new life into a significant historical moment and places Outsider Art in an art historical perspective. Discover the origins of Outsider Art, seen through the eyes of Jean Dubuffet, one of the most prominent artists of the 20th century.
Dubuffet’s List | Masterpieces from the Prinzhorn Collection offers fresh insights into the important and inevitable ‘encounter’ between the ideas of psychiatrist Hans Prinzhorn and those of the ‘discoverer of Art Brut’: Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985). Both of these men are the founding fathers of what we nowadays call Outsider Art.
Dubuffet viewed the impressive Prinzhorn Collection as a forerunner of his own ‘Collection de l’Art Brut’, so his visit to Prinzhorn’s collection was a long-cherished dream. One should note that during his visit, Dubuffet viewed the art works from a different perspective than that of his shining example. Prinzhorn considered the works from his academic standpoint, while Dubuffet viewed the unconventional collection as an artist and collector.
‘This research explores the foundations of a key moment in art history, and this was all possible thanks to that one list made by Dubuffet during his now renowned visit to the Prinzhorn Collection’.
Upcoming
New Masters at the Outsider Art Museum
Poignant portraits by photographer Sander Troelstra
In the exhibition New Masters, the Outsider Art Museum introduces more than 70 works by 30 talented contemporary Outsider artists. Moreover, in a series of intimate, poignant portraits, photographer Sander Toelstra gives a face to their fascinating world. Troelstra has won the Canon Silver Camera Award on many occasions, and also took the honours at the prestigious Dutch National Portrait Award in 2015.
Propelled by the unusual, Troelstra concentrated on creating portraits of people on the fringes; those who sometimes have trouble connecting with society. New Masters brings the visitor face-to-face with these unconventional artists, exploring their hypersensitivity and extraordinary creativity. Who are these New Masters? What motivates them? What drives their near manic working method?
Only a few decades ago, it would have been impossible for these artists to launch successful careers – their work would have remained unseen due to their social isolation and a life behind closed doors. For many years, the art world was hesitant to afford autodidactic artists a place on the art circuit. The arrival of the Outsider Art Museum in 2016 helped to accelerate the much desired change: the museum contributes significantly to the recognition and inclusion of these new talents by and in the international museum world.
New Masters runs alongside Dutch Masters from the Hermitage, the first ever exhibition to display a major retrospective of Dutch Golden Age masterworks from the renowned collection of the Hermitage in St Petersburg.
Work by a selection of New Masters will also be on display at the Modern Art Museum in Shanghai from 26 October 2017 to 30 January 2018. Work by several outsider artists will feature in the exhibition City Life.
The exhibition at the Outsider Art Museum in Amsterdam will be officially opened by photographer Koos Breukel on 3 October 2017. New Masters will remain on display until 28 May 2018. The exhibition will be accompanied by a photographic publication featuring portraits by Sander Troelstra and the work of the featured artists.
