Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen: inauguration of a world first

With Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, a mecca for art and collection management is opening. A building of a new order. King Willem-Alexander opens the depot, after which the public can discover the treasure chamber of Rotterdam.

The idea of ​​a new building to safeguard the art collection was first whispered about in 2004. After the first pile was sunk in March 2017, now, 4.5 years later, the building is completed: Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen in the Museum Park in Rotterdam will be opened by His Majesty the King on Friday 5 November 2021. The cellars under the museum were unsuitable for storage due to flooding - it proved to be an opportunity for the city. With the arrival of the art depot - designed by MVRDV - the internationally renowned Boijmans Van Beuningen art collection and the care for these 151,000 objects will be made transparent under one roof, next to the museum building that is undergoing renovation. Museums worldwide generally display an average of six to ten percent of the collection - the remaining ninety percent, and the work associated with conservation is hidden and sequestered. The depot breaks with this tradition of hiding and makes all of these invisible works of art visible; it is the epitome of the changing views on collection management and a pioneering building. Never before has accessible museum storage on this scale been combined with a view behind the scenes for the general public. Following the opening by HM the King, the depot will open to the public from Saturday 6 November.

Sjarel Ex and Ina Klaassen - Directorial team Boijmans Van Beuningen: “Opening up this collection is important. The objects and artworks that artists and designers have produced are an essential part of our thinking and acting. This new tool, this new typology, helps us to preserve and open up these treasures. The best part is yet to come: the building as we have devised it is now going to shape us.”

Said Kasmi - Alderman for Culture, Tourism and Education: “The already iconic Boijmans Van Beuningen depot is a wonderful asset to Rotterdam. The versatility of the building appeals to me: it is both a place to wander in an accessible way between a lot of great art, and a place to enjoy special architecture, whether you are outside or inside. Add the rooftop restaurant Renilde: enjoy a culinary highlight with a spectacular view over our city. Finally, it is a place where we can captivate future makers and conservators - the children and students of today - for art, restoration and conservation. We have a new gem for the public. That makes me a proud Rotterdammer!”

Sandra Kisters - Head of Collection and Research Boijmans Van Beuningen: “In the depot, the visitor is invited to delve into what collecting is in various ways and to actively relate to the collection and to share their own knowledge about collecting (art) objects with the museum. Selecting and distinguishing is a human process, motivated by emotion and guided by knowledge.”

Winy Maas, founding partner MVRDV: "The opening of the depot is an exciting moment – now everything is coming together. As an architecture firm, it was our mission to allow a special art experience to go hand-in-hand with a building that takes an equally special form, something which would also give the Museum Park a new dimension. I think the depot, with its reflective façade, blends into its surroundings in a fantastic way. With the rooftop forest we add a piece of park at a height of 35 metres. Despite its floor area of 15,000 m2 and a significant programme of depots, workshops, presentation rooms, and catering, it looks like a cute little ball – partly thanks to the mirrored facade which reflects the whole city. I invite visitors to take a journey of discovery through the dizzying collection, while discovering the building at the same time. For me, the depot will be a success if everyone feels welcome there.”

History of the depot

The art depots in the cellars of the adjacent Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen were unsafe, overcrowded and outdated. Since the 1970s, large external depots have been hired. From 2017, the museum depots under the museum have been emptied bit by bit and the collection was stored in the external depots locally and abroad. In 2019, the last works of art left the museum depot, while at the same time museum gates closed to the public. Partly because of the more frequent occurrence of flooding, it was not an option to keep the valuable collection of more than 151,000 works of art under museum after its renovation. The only solution turned out to be an external depot. The idea came up in 2004, the first sketches were made in 2007, ten years later the first pile was driven into the ground. In 2020, the public could take a look inside for the first time. Following the museum’s vision, supported by the De Verre Bergen Foundation and the Municipality of Rotterdam, the entire museum collection is now accessible under one roof in an open depot in the city centre, instead of a closed depot in an anonymous industrial outskirt. The adjacent Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam is expected to open its doors in 2028 after a major renovation and upgrade.

The Boijmans Van Beuningen collection

The Boijmans Van Beuningen collection is the only one in the Netherlands that introduces the visitor to seven centuries of (Western) art history of the highest level, spanning from 1400 to the present. The museum offers an international perspective and makes connections between contemporary art and design, linking old masters, design, and prints and drawings. Not only is the breadth and composition of the collection unique in the Netherlands, the quality of individual works is also high. Rotterdam's entrepreneurship and private initiative play a leading role in the 172-year history of the museum. Harbor barons of yesteryear underlined their international orientation and view of the world by collecting high-quality art. Together with small collectors and the staff of the museum, they brought together an extensive, international art collection in which not only almost all the great masters are represented with important pieces, but also the most beautiful works by lesser-known artists. No museum in the Netherlands has a collection with such an international character and extends over so many centuries.

The world-famous art collection now contains more than 151,000 objects, including more than 63,000 paintings, photographs, films, pre-industrial and design objects, contemporary art installations, sculptures and 88,000 prints and drawings. With its diversity of focal points and qualities over the centuries, the collection shows itself like a map.

The collection housed

Works of art in the new depot are stored, organised and displayed on the basis of their size and climatic requirements, rather than on the basis of art movement, era or maker. There are five different climate zones, suitable for different materials such as metal, plastic, paper, black and white and color photography. The works of art are arranged as efficiently as possible, just like in a closed depot. Collection objects are packed, hanging from a rack or displayed on shelves in one of the fourteen storage compartments, or exhibited in one of the thirteen large floating glass display cases in the atrium. Collections that are usually less accessible, such as prints, drawings and photos from the relevant depots, can be studied on request. Some sub-collections, such as the film and video collections, have been completely digitised for conservation reasons but also to allow more access for the public to view them in a film room and two small booths. The accessibility is therefore not only interesting for the regular public, but also facilitates the conduct of art historical research by third parties and the development of new educational programmes.

Work building behind the gallery space

In addition to housing the collection safely, Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen has been designed as a work building, where the collection and research department works on registration, loan traffic, conservation, restoration, and facilitates and conducts research. Making visible to the visitor not only the objects, but also the care going into such a valuable art collection. The depot is making a leap in terms of collection, conservation and public access. Where masterpieces come together in museum presentations, the depot is open as an accessible visual archive. The depot serves as an engine room for the museum, not only after the reopening, but also during the renovation of the museum, while masterpieces from the collection can be seen elsewhere. It is a new instrument in the history of the museum to bring the inhabitants of Rotterdam closer to the art historical treasures over which, for the most part, they have ownership. Thanks to the high-quality facilities within the depot, such as the spacious restoration studios, film rooms and climate compartments, the programme of tasks and activities for which a museum is responsible can be taken to a higher level. With this depot, the reopened museum will gain the power to deliver exhibitions in which everything visibly comes together, the quality of the art objects, excellent conditions for research, and the future-proof care that allows the collection to continue to exist.

Depot experience

The video installation 'Het leven verspillen aan jou' by artist Pipilotti Rist can be experienced daily after sunset in the public space between Depot and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. The depot entrance with a public and group passageways, information point, mezzanine with transparent lockers and a shop was designed by artist John Körmeling. During the route through the depot, people come into contact with the art collection in various ways. The eye-catcher of the MVRDV design is the atrium with the intersecting stairs and the thirteen large glass showcases containing collection pieces. These showcases, designed in collaboration with artist Marieke van Diemen, are furnished with art, fashion and design, such as work by Maurizio Cattelan, Iris van Herpen, Auguste Rodin, Carolein Smit, Carel Fabritius, Suzan Drummen, Gijs Frieling and Job Wouters, and Sarkis. The atrium stairways criss-cross to six floors of restoration studios, a film room, two small film booths, two study rooms and two gallery spaces for exhibitions. Most of the space is taken up by the twenty depot compartments, fourteen of which are for the museum's own art storage and six to lease: five private depots and a joint depot that can be hired per m2. In the restoration studios, visitors can look from behind glass at specialists restoring, for example, Van Gogh's ‘Poplars near Nuenen' or Kusama's 'Infinity Mirror Room - Phalli's Field (Floor Show)', whilst being informed through an interactive educational layer. The presentation rooms contain exhibitions that focus on works of art as a material object rather than on art-historical developments and ideas. In the depot compartments of the museum visitors see (via the window, an app and in-depth information available outside depot compartments or inside the depot compartments with a guide) the workings of art storage.

Commercial function

In addition to its role as the museum's engine room, the depot will also have a commercial function. Part of the building is leased as storage space for art from private collectors and for corporate collections such as KPN and Rabobank, or from collectors such as the Lakeside Capital Collection by Ali Keles. The tenants of these compartment can in turn open their depots to the public. Tenants within the depot are offered the same service and professionalism as the museum collection. The depot also contains a collection compartment where a few square metres, individual racks or shelves can be leased. The sixth floor, accessible via an express lift, is located at a height of approximately 35 metres and allows breathtaking views over the city. Here visitors will find restaurant Renilde with a roof terrace and the event space for hire Coert. The restaurant and event space are named after the Boijmans curator (Renilde Hammacher) from the 1960s and 1970s and the Boijmans director (Coert Ebbinge Wubbe) of that time. A depot store with products related to the depot is also part of the experience. The depot store was designed by John Körmeling.

Depot design

MVRDV's ambition was to design a public depot that is as inviting as possible, making visitors feel welcome. An accessible building with five climate zones that transparently shows how the collection is maintained, while at the same time leaving the entrance hall of the Museum Park intact as much as possible, and engaging with it in new ways. A round shape was chosen so that the depot is equally inviting on all sides. This building has no back. The depot owes its tucked shape to its relatively small footprint (40 metres). As a result, the building projects upwards and has an overhang of 10 meters to accommodate the entire programme of tasks and functions. The diameter of the roof is 60 meters. The reflective facade, consisting of 6,609 m2 of glass divided over 1,664 panels, ensures that the building visually blends into its surroundings. Every day – depending on weather conditions – the depot looks different, like in a living painting. The birches, grasses and pines placed on the award-winning roof help to retain water, promote biodiversity and reduce heat stress in the city. The trees for this project were prepared for their new home in a nursery for three years. Their roots are interconnected, allowing them to withstand stormy weather even at a height of 35 meters.

Cooperation

Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen is a collaboration between Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, the municipality of Rotterdam and the De Verre Bergen Foundation. The depot was designed by MVRDV and built by BAM Bouw en Techniek.

For more information, please contact press officers Museum & Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen:

Sharon Cohen 

+31611886879

Jeroen van der Hulst 

+31612666949

pressoffice@boijmans.nl