The museum took to the streets with one of artist Aat Veldhoen’s skeletons and asked anyone who wanted to answer a simple—yet not-so-simple—question: What is the most beautiful thing you can say about death? The answers now hang as large portraits in the Tuinzaal of the Museum Tot Zover café, in Watergraafsmeer. These aren’t abstract reflections on mortality, but real people looking into the camera and sharing something personal.
The project is based on the work of Aat Veldhoen. The artist, known for his colorful and sometimes provocative art, created posthumous portraits of people who had just passed away and also regularly used skeletons as models. His direct and unflinching approach to death served as the starting point for the street interviews that resulted in this exhibition. The museum is also hosting a separate exhibition of his work: ‘Aat Veldhoen, Realist to the Grave.’.
The exhibition combines two layers. In addition to the photographs in the Garden Room, a series of videos is playing in which the subjects further explain their answers. Anyone who looks only at the photograph sees a face and a short text. Those who pause in front of the screen will hear the full story behind it: why this person chose these words, what death means to them, and what memory or experience played a role. This combination of still images and the spoken word makes the project more personal than a typical photo display.
The portraits themselves are exactly what they are: close-ups, printed large, without any unnecessary embellishment. No backdrop, no props—just the face and the accompanying text. That simplicity suits both the subject and the venue. Museum Tot Zover is, after all, no ordinary museum, but a funeral museum that has focused for years on funeral culture and the history of death. This exhibition fits seamlessly into that theme, without becoming too somber.
The Garden Room, part of the museum café, is a place where you’d normally have a cup of coffee after a guided tour of the permanent collection. Now, however, it also features this: faces of ordinary people, each offering their own answer to the biggest question of all. While admission to the museum itself is 11 euros for adults, viewing this specific exhibition is free. You can simply walk in, head to the Garden Room, and listen to what other Amsterdammers had to say about death.