‘Amsterdam, Day and Night’ an exhibition of works by Arie Schippers in the museum of canals until sunday 2 July 2023

Starting on 2 March 2023, the Museum of the Canals is presenting an exhibition of work by Arie Schippers in collaboration with the Tim Killiam Foundation. The jury for the Tim Killiam Prize has chosen Arie Schippers as the winner of the very first edition of the prize.

Arie Schippers (1952)

Schippers enjoyed his education at the Rotterdam Academy and the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (State Academy of Visual Arts) in Amsterdam. In 1977 he won the Prix de Rome for painting and in 2016 he was awarded the Sacha Tanja Penning. He is also a sculptor and his works include Long Walk to Freedom (2012), the monument to Nelson Mandela in The Hague. The forty Amsterdam cityscapes that can be seen in this exhibition were largely made in the period 1994-2006. Schippers has also created several new works especially for this exhibition.

For years, Arie Schippers drove through Amsterdam in his minivan and painted hundreds of cityscapes, most of them in the suburbs and on the edges of the city, and a few in the centre. ‘The city centre belongs to Breitner,’ he says. ‘And in the centre, you can’t just park your van wherever you want.’ Schippers has a generous eye by nature who paints everything he can see: an invalid cart, containers, logos on buildings, strangely parked lorries, bottle banks, bus shelters and billboard advertisements of cars as big as the cars parked next to them; it all gets included.

‘We are delighted to be soon showing forty of his best works in a retrospective exhibition. His works are all typically Amsterdam, not the iconic, world-famous buildings, but depicting the frayed edges of the city. It will offer a wonderful contrast to the classic period rooms in our museum.’ – Martijn Bosch, Director Museum of the Canals

The exhibition can be seen from 2 March to 4 June 2023 in the Museum of the Canals.

Tuesday to Sunday: 11.00 to 17.00