- Dates
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Active Art
In 1960, large paintings were hung above the machines in the Peter Stuyvesant factory of the Turmac Tobacco Company BV in Zevenaar (the Netherlands). Where once technology had been the sole protagonist, emotions now appeared on the scene. This fortunate experiment led to the creation of the Peter Stuyvesant Foundation, whose main purpose is to acquire works by contemporary artists to showcase innovation and creativity in Turmac’s factories and offices throughout Europe.
In 1990, the Peter Stuyvesant Collection comprised nine hundred works by artists from 36 different countries. The paintings and sculptures circulate continuously among Turmac’s companies, both in the Netherlands and abroad. The Peter Stuyvesant factory in Zevenaar and its head office in Amsterdam are officially recognised as museums and are therefore open to the public.
In the 1960s, more than forty exhibitions of the collection were organised in museums around the world to promote the concept of art in the workplace. In the 1970s, there was a greater emphasis on photography, with more than thirty exhibitions. At the same time, large thematic exhibitions were organised in the Netherlands and abroad, as well as solo exhibitions in its Amsterdam headquarters.
In 1980, the Peter Stuyvesant Collection of Graphic Art was established, with the main aim of enabling staff to acquire works of art of guaranteed quality.
The Peter Stuyvesant Foundation continues to adhere to the principle of bringing art to the people, and not the other way round. Various works from the collection were therefore exhibited in the departure hall of Schiphol Airport in 1978, in several department stores in the Netherlands in 1985, and in the cellars of four châteaux in the Médoc region in 1989. In 1979, Niki de Saint Phalle was also commissioned to paint the entire surface of an aeroplane, and in 1982 four ordinary taxis were transformed into works of art: the Spoerri, Pistoletto, Morellet and Schippers arttaxis. These taxis had transported some 40,000 people around the streets of Paris by 1984.
In November 1985, on the occasion of its 25th anniversary, an exhibition of works of art from the collections of twelve large Dutch companies was held in Zevenaar. The Peter Stuyvesant Foundation thus aimed to emphasise the key role of companies in incorporating art into the workplace.
A selection from the Peter Stuyvesant Collection is now on display at the Fundació Joan Miró, after being presented at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, at the beginning of a tour of several Spanish museums and exhibition halls that will end at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
