New displays in the 20th-century galleries

Scale model finds a home

In 2012, Karen Gegiazarian (b. 1971 in Yerevan, Armenia) was living with his family at AZC Klompjan, an asylum centre in Markelo, Twente. These were uncertain times as they waited for the decision about their asylum application. In the meantime Gegiazarian decided he would create something, ‘a lasting memory’. The resulting work was a highly detailed miniature replica of his temporary accomodation. This scale model of AZC Klompjan vividly evokes life and the living environment in an asylum centre.

The model might easily have been lost were it not for the efforts of the Tussenlanding collective. This initiative of journalist and curator Milena Mulders found successive temporary homes for the work. The nomadic phase of its existence is over now that it is part of the Rijksmuseum collection.

Bep Rietveld

At the age of 19, Bep Rietveld (1913–1999) painted a self-portrait for an assignment from her teacher Charley Toorop. The artist’s stylisation of her facial features and the slightly enlarged eyes make for a powerful image. Rietveld had got to know Toorop through her father, the architect Gerrit Rietveld. It was through Toorop that she learned to ‘see things as she did.’ Bep Rietveld continued to paint all her life, and there were various exhibitions of her work, including ones in Katwijk, The Hague and, posthmously, Amersfoort. The portrait was donated to the Rijksmuseum last year by Bep Rietveld’s daughter M. Eskes.

Carel Visser

Following extensive restoration, in 2024 the monumental sculptures Signal 1 and Signal 2 by Carel Visser were installed in the Rijksmuseum Gardens. The artist made them in 1964 for the Central Administration Office of the Postal Cheque and Giro Service in The Hague. In the course of research into these sculptures the conservator discovered two design maquettes that were made in 1961 or thereabouts. The Rijksmuseum was able to acquire these models with the support of KPN. And to mark the completion of the restoration of the Signal sculptures, Carel Visser’s son donated to the museum a work made by the artist in 1968. This exceptional geometric relief in aluminium is comparable in form to the sculptures.

Rik Lina

In 2024 the Rijksmuseum acquired multiple watercolours by Rik Lina (b. 1942) through the support of Pon Holdings B.V. In his work, Rik Lina attempted to capture the unfamiliar and the ephemeral through automatic responses to feelings that emerged in him. He regarded these actions as creative experiments that were rooted in his interest in altered states of consciousness, including those that Lina experienced while tripping on LSD, which he first took in 1967. Following a trip, Lina would make paintings of the colours and images he had seen.