Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen: Staff Picks

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen: Staff Picks

Greta by Suzie Robertson

Bram Donders | Curator

“One of my favorite works in the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is the painting Greta by Suze Robertson. At first glance, the small painting appears mainly dark and gray, but if you look longer at the work, it comes to life. In rough, coarse strokes, the girl with her yellow dress and the red blush on her cheeks emerges. Robertson often painted the model Greta, but in this painting, the girl is completely stripped of all context, so all the focus is on the contemplative.”

The Mandrill by Oskar Kokoschka

Quinten de Klonia | Security Coordinator 

“This is such a wonderful work. I can almost feel the wild and untamed energy coming from the painting. In my experience, apart from the story of the artist, the combination of colors is a pleasure for the eye.”

Il Trovatore by Giorgio de Chirico

Bianca Sallons | Guide and Location Coordinator

“In 2014 I wrote a song about this piece with my musical partner for the ART Rocks competition. We even got the opportunity to perform the song in the museum. The work, especially the figure portrayed by De Chirico, immediately inspired me to write my lyrics, which for me started with the sentence J’excist a cause de vous. I felt a strong connection with the feeling of loneliness that sometimes comes with “being an artist.” Among other things, converting both the desired and unwanted catharsis into a presentation can sometimes drain me despite the fact that it is nourishing. It even gives me the feeling of living a life, where giving and receiving are often not in balance.”

Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8 by Mark Rothko

Esmée Verheijen | Shop Manager

“To me, it’s difficult to pick a favorite work from the collection, because there is so much choice. We have a collection of more than 150,000 objects, but this work by Mark Rothko always touches me. I am a big fan of Rothko because of the combination of abstraction, color, shape, and size. The longer you look at it, the more complex and fraught it becomes. My background is in design, so I find it interesting how such an abstract work can still trigger an emotion; and that you can feel the story of the artist himself.”

Deadpan by Steve McQueen

Gianni Antonia | Curator in Training

“Steve McQueen’s Deadpan is undeniably impressive. Three minutes and fifty-two seconds of silent film that couldn’t speak louder for a Black experience that is still relevant today. I can watch its repetitive scenes endlessly. The film stars McQueen himself standing in front of a house as its facade falls down on him continuously. He barely moves but the look on his face says it all. I get quite emotional looking at it. Even though he survives each time, by standing exactly in its open window, to me, it shows the tension between ‘a window of opportunity’ and ‘a set trap’ hard to escape from.”

You can access the museum’s website here and find their digital collection here!