Happy Birthday Amsterdam
H’ART Museum, Amsterdam
Through 16 March 2025
Sumatrakade, 1933-39.
Collection City Archives Amsterdam
© Eva Besnyö/MAI
Youths on Amstelveld, 1962
Collection City Archives Amsterdam
© Violette Cornelius /
National Museum of Photography
School Playground, 1970-79
Collection Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherland
The Stock Exchange Gate from Rokin, 1880-1923
Collection Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands
Photo by Margareta Svensson
Drag disco/costume party La Night aux Folles
in discotheek Flora Palace, 1983
Collection City Archives Amsterdam
© Erwin Olaf
As part of the Amsterdam 750 anniversary celebrations, H’ART Museum presents a unique exhibition focusing on 75 highly diverse artists who have contributed to the colourful image of the city in the past and present. Subjects range from Johan Cruyff seen through the eyes of Marlene Dumas (b. 1953) to 1990s Amsterdam viewed through the lens of Erwin Olaf (1959-2023). Happy Birthday Amsterdam presents a colourful and richly varied parade of images celebrating Amsterdam as a city of art. The museum has chosen an unusually free arrangement, without any chronology and art historical categories, to reflect the unconventional nature of the city. Each of the 75 prominent artists featured in the exhibition has made a distinctive contribution to the artistic and public image of the city today. The selection of works on show constitutes the museum’s tribute to the city, its people, its various neighbourhoods, and the artists who have lived, worked or spent time there over the past few centuries.
Lida with Spotted Tram, 1975
Collection Joseph Kessels
Amsterdammer KR 237, 1978-79
Collection Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands
Cleaning the streets on Prinseneiland,1962
Collection City Archives Amsterdam
© Paul Huf/MAI
Amstelkade, Amsterdam, 1951
Collection Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands
Dam 2, 1896-97
Collection City Archives Amsterdam
The exhibition is the result of a close partnership between H’ART Museum and the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (English: Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands) or RCE, its main source of loan items for Happy Birthday Amsterdam. The more than 100,000 objects in the stewardship of the RCE form one of the largest art collections in the Netherlands. The vast majority of this ‘national collection’ are kept at the CollectieCentrum Nederland (CCNL), together with the collections of the Nederlands Openluchtmuseum, Paleis Het Loo, and the Rijksmuseum. CCNL houses over half a million objects and is sometimes called the ‘physical memory’ of the Netherlands.
Peat Ships on the IJ, 1880-1923
Collection Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands
The Montelbaans Tower, unfinished, 1880-1920
Collection Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands
Sardine-Box 1, 1973-76
Collection Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands
The liberation of the mushroom, 1975-81
Collection Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands
Photo by Magareta Svensson
Self-Portrait (after a 1629 self-portrait by Rembrandt), 1989
Collection Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands
Photo by Wendy Oakes
Tampan Womb of Time, 2016
Leiden University Medical Centre
(LUMC) Art Collection
Photo by Gert Jan van Rooij
Happy Birthday Amsterdam is the first exhibition to include over 50 RCE loans relating to the city of Amsterdam. So many locally relevant items from the national collection have rarely been exhibited together in the Dutch capital. They are supplemented by outstanding works from other sources, such as the Amsterdam City Archives, the ABN AMRO Art Collection, De Nieuwe Kerk Amsterdam, and private collections.
Anton de Kom memorial plaque, 2021
De Nieuwe Kerk Amsterdam.
© Natasja Kensmil
Johan Cruijff (double portrait), 1997
Lithograph (edition 7/50)
ABN AMRO Collection.
Photo by Tom Haartsen, Ouderkerk aan de Amstel
Barbara Broekman
The Golden Thread, 2023
Courtesy of the artist
Photo by Gert Jan van Rooy
Untitled, 1937
Collection Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands
The works on show are typical of Amsterdam: colourful, diverse and forthright. They are both surprising and familiar to art lovers and fans of the city. The public is treated to works by a multitude of big names from the world of art: from Ferdinand Bol (1616-1680), Jacob Olie (1834-1905), Willem Witsen (1860-1923), Piet Mondriaan (1872-1944), Karel Appel (1921-2006) and Paul Huf (1924-2002) to Ed van der Elsken (1925-1990), Herman Gordijn (1932-2017), Jeroen Henneman (b. 1942), Marina Abramović (b. 1946) and Natasja Kensmil (b. 1973). The selection ranges from paintings and photographs to sound works, sculptures, and iconic examples of street scenes, textiles and Amsterdam design.
H'ART MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
Amstel 51, 1018EJ Amsterdam
Happy Birthday Amsterdam - H’ART Museum
4 December 2024 - 16 March 2025
