Museum de Fundatie has recently expanded its collection with acquisitions from twelve artists. These purchases were made possible in part by the VriendenLoterij and align with the museum's collection profile, which aims to present a more balanced and diverse picture of modern and contemporary art. A large number of the new works are on display until 20 September in the collection exhibition Kijk om je heen! (Look Around You!) in Zwolle. Work by Frieda Hunziker is featured in the exhibition Cremer in Context, which also opened in Zwolle this week and runs until 20 September. Works acquired in conjunction with the Back to Benin exhibition have been on display at the museum over the past few months. A donation from the Rembrandt Association, originating from the estate of Elly Tamminga, is currently on view at Museum de Fundatie Heino (Kasteel het Nijenhuis).
Lorian Gwynn - The museum acquired two works by Lorian Gwynn: What Lingers, What Shifts (P.) (2026) and Doel (2026). Gwynn’s paintings connect personal imagination with broader reflections on community, artistry, and the power of imagination. Her work strengthens the collection's focus on contemporary painting by women.
Jen Liu - The two acquired works from Liu’s Back of Head series—Tunnel of Love and Zao Nainai’s Snacktime (both 2025)—bring an international and interdisciplinary perspective to the collection. New York-based Liu works through research-driven fictions, connecting national identity, economics, and archival material with painting in which the materials themselves play a role—ranging from handmade acrylic paint to traces of electronic waste.
Patsy Krebs - Thanks to a donation from Christina Viola Oorebeek (Amsterdam), six works by Patsy Krebs are entering the collection, including Composition. Krebs’s geometric and abstract works add a distinctly feminine voice to the collection’s post-war abstraction and align with the museum’s policy of better representing twentieth-century female artists.
Marcel Pinas - With Mi O Sijoe II (Goodbye), a work by one of Suriname’s most important contemporary artists enters the collection. Pinas’s colorful paintings are already held in various museum collections. This donation aligns with the aim of achieving a more balanced distribution of origins among acquisitions.
Kees Verwey en Lou Loeber - Both acquisitions complement existing collections. Portrait of Charlotte van Pallandt (c. 1964) by Kees Verwey (1900–1995) aligns with works by both Verwey and Van Pallandt already held by the museum, and reflects the close friendship between the two artists. Still Life (1935) by Lou Loeber (1894–1983) strengthens the position of Elly Tamminga within the collection: both artists studied at the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam and shared an artistic development influenced by Karel Luberti. Loeber’s work is also currently on display in Heino.
Frans Simon Baljon - The Portrait of a Surinamese Man with Javanese Roots (1936) by Frans Simon Baljon (1900–1951) fits well with the collection of portraits, which includes a portrait of R.M.A. Koesoemo Oetoyo’s son by Eric de Stuers.
Ivna Esajas - Two works by Ivna Esajas are entering the collection: Hear No Evil (2024) and Bring on the Clowns (2022), both mixed media on canvas. They were part of In the Garden of My Good Days, Esajas’s first solo museum exhibition, which was on view at Museum de Fundatie in 2025. In her work, Esajas explores the daily lives and imaginations of Black people, free from external judgment. Esajas received the ABN AMRO Art Prize in 2025.
Back to Benin - Works by Minne Atairu (Apollo 18 — 0000000557, 2025), Taiye Idahor (three works from the Wade in the Water series, plus a donation from the artist), and Phil Omodamwen (Queen Ida, 2025) were acquired in conjunction with the exhibition. These acquisitions originated from a project in which contemporary creators from the Edo people reflect on the centuries-old tradition of Benin bronzes, centering on the restitution of a Benin bronze from the collection.
Frieda Hunziker - Lastly, Ants (late 1950s) by Frieda Hunziker (1908–1966) has been acquired. Hunziker was the only woman to co-found the group Vrij Beelden and played a progressive role alongside Cobra and the Experimentelen. The work is included in the exhibition Cremer in Context and strengthens the representation of female artists in Dutch post-war art.
