Bad Thoughts

The Sanders Collection is one of the most important private collections in the Netherlands and contains a diverse array of several hundred paintings, sculptures, assemblages, photos, drawings, text-based artworks, films, videos, and installations by over 350 mostly European and American artists.

The title of the exhibition, BAD THOUGHTS, is derived from a photo work by Gilbert & George. It’s a light-hearted comment on the adventure of private art collecting, as well as the interest in the darker side of the human psyche, evident in many of the works in the Sanders Collection.

Martijn and Jeannette Sanders began collecting art in the 1970s. Unlike many private collections, the Sanders Collection is notable for featuring a significant group of “core artists” whose work is represented in great depth, including Ger van Elk, Gilbert & George, Anselm Kiefer, Cindy Sherman, David Claerbout, Thomas Demand, and Anton Henning. The collection also holds a substantial body of conceptual art and “narrative art” of the 1970s, and German painting of the 1970s and 1980s (Lüpertz, Penck, and Baselitz). For the Sanders, collecting art is both a personal matter and an intuitive process. It is their way of life, and their collection reads as a journal.

The exhibition BAD THOUGHTS is dedicated to Adriaan van Ravesteijn and Geert van Beijeren of Art & Project (1968-2001), with whom the Sanders developed a long term friendship.

The presentation will occupy the spacious lower-level gallery in the new wing, in a special architectural configuration designed by Florian Idenburg of SO-IL architects (New York), who has been shortlisted for the Prix de Rome 2014.

New work

From the end of October, the exhibition BAD THOUGHTS – Collection Martijn and Jeannette Sanders will present new work, by Tjebbe Beekman, Gregory Crewdson, Günther Förg, Johan Grimonprez, Markus Lüpertz, Aernout Mik, Ronald Ophuis and Marijke van Warmerdam.

Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen, curator of the exhibition: “These Amsterdam collectors have amassed one of the most important private art collections in the Netherlands. The collection is so vast that, even in our spacious lower-level galleries, we can only show part of it. By re-hanging the galleries with new work, visitors will be able to experience a substantial number of new groups from the collection. This new selection features work by Dutch painters and several significant video installations acquired by the Sanders in recent years.” 

Public Program

stedelijk|gallery talks, Aug – Nov 2014
 Bad Thoughts with …
Language: Dutch
Location:  Exhibition galleries
 
 Speakers:
- Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen (curator Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam), Aug 29
- Carel Blotkamp (art historian and emeritus professor), Sept 12
- Joop van Caldenborgh (private collector of contemporary art), Oct 4
- Alexander Strengers (chairman of the art committee  De Nederlandsche Bank) Oct 10

Bad Thoughts - short documentary

Martijn and Jeanette talk about their collection and the meaning it has for them on a short two-pieced documentary for ARTtube. Befriended artists like Anton Henning and Gilbert & George talk about the phenomenon of the private collector and their relationship with the couple.

publication

The publication Bad Thoughts – Collection Martijn and Jeannette Sanders accompanies the exhibition. Available in Dutch and English, it will be approximately 70 pages in length. It includes a foreword written by Beatrix Ruf, and an introduction by Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen, who also interviewed Martijn and Jeannette Sanders. It also features six statements from Anselm Kiefer, Armando, Frank Van den Broeck, Anton Henning, and others.

Artists in BAD THOUGHTS 

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