Collected for Amstelveen – the municipal art collection

Over the past seventy years, the municipality has assembled a leading collection of visual arts. This versatile collection is now presented to the public for the first time and is free of charge for all residents of Amstelveen.

Exhibition in Museum JAN

Museum JAN is showing a selection from the so-called Topographic Atlas. From 1958 onwards, the town council commissioned artists to record the rapidly changing landscape in and around Amstelveen. At that time, Amstelveen was the fastest growing municipality in the Netherlands: farmlands, polders and characteristic buildings were disappearing to make way for new developments. This resulted in a collection of watercolours, drawings, photographs and some paintings. The collection grew steadily in the 1960s, but came to a standstill in the 1970s. A new start was made in 1985. This time the town council opted for photography.

In the twenty-first century, the Topographic Atlas is once again being supplemented in a contemporary manner. The exhibition in Museum JAN features three new works by contemporary artists who have responded to the present landscape of Amstelveen.