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Overview
Erwin Olaf was an internationally exhibiting artist whose diverse practice centered around society’s marginalized individuals, including women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community. In 2019 Olaf became a Knight of the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands after 500 works from his oeuvre were added to the collection of the Rijksmuseum. Taco Dibbits, Rijksmuseum director, called Olaf “one of the most important photographers of the final quarter of the 20th century”.
In 2018, Olaf completed a triptych of monumental photographic and filmic tableaux portraying periods of seismic change in major world cities, and the citizens embraced and othered by their urban progress. Like much of his work, it is contextualized by complex race relations, the devastation of economic divisions, and the complications of sexuality. Olaf maintained an activistic approach to equality throughout his 40-year career after starting out documenting pre-AIDS gay liberation in Amsterdam’s nightlife in the 1980s.
A bold and sometimes controversial approach earned the artist a number of prestigious collaborations, from Vogue and Louis Vuitton, to the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. He served as the official portrait artist for the Dutch royal family in 2017, and designed the national side of the euro coins for King Willem-Alexander in 2013. He was awarded the Netherlands’ prestigious Johannes Vermeer Award, as well as Photographer of the Year at the International Color Awards, and Kunstbeeld magazine’s Dutch Artist of the Year.
Erwin Olaf has exhibited worldwide, including Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Málaga, Spain; Museu da Imagem e do Som, São Paulo, Brazil; Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany; Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA; and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago, Chile. In the spring of 2019, Olaf’s work was the subject of a double exhibition at Kunstmuseum The Hague and The Hague Museum of Photography, as well as a solo exhibition at the Shanghai Center of Photography and an exhibition at The Rijkmuseum of Amsterdam. In 2021, he presented solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle München, Germany; the Suwon Museum of Art, Suwon, Korea. Olaf’s work is included in numerous private and public collections, such as the Rijksmuseum and Stedelijk Museum, both in Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany; Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, The Netherlands, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, United States; Art Progressive Collection, United States, and the Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia.
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Works
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Exhibitions
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Erwin Olaf
In Motion, In Stillness 23 Nov 2024 - 7 Mar 2025 -
We Killed the Bunny!
GROUP SHOW CURATED BY ROLANDO J. CARMONA 22 Jun - 31 Aug 2022Baró is pleased to announce its new group exhibition, WE KILLED THE BUNNY! - a delirious show curated by Venezuelan Rolando J. Carmona. The show brings together a group of...Read more -
ARCOmadrid 2021
7 - 11 Jul 2021 -
FELIPE II
ERWIN OLAF 11 May - 16 Jun 2021We’re pleased to announce that the exhibition “Felipe II” by Erwin Olaf will not be a part of our VR program. The show features the series Felipe II, which Erwin...Read more
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News
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Erwin Olaf retrospective at the Stedelijk Museum in 2025
Erwin Olaf | Opening October 11, 2025 October 20, 2024We are pleased to announce that the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam is organizing an exhibition of the work of Erwin Olaf set to open in...Read more -
Now open: Erwin Olaf's 'Narratives of Emancipation, Desire and Intimacy' in Madrid
Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa — Madrid | May 10 – July 14 April 30, 2024 May 21, 2024Erwin Olaf's retrospective exhibition ‘Narratives of Emancipation, Desire and Intimacy’, organised by PHotoESPAÑA and curated by Paco Barragán, International PhD, with photographs, videos and installations...Read more -
Erwin Olaf's 'Narratives of Emancipation, Desire and Intimacy' in Madrid
PHotoESPAÑA | Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa — Madrid | May 10 – July 14 April 30, 2024We are delighted to announce Erwin Olaf's monographic exhibition 'Narratives of Emancipation, Desire and Intimacy', opening at Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa —...Read more
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