Collection & Heritage

The present Stadsschouwburg is not one building but a complex of buildings, with the theatre of 1894 as its basis. For their design, architects Dolf van Gendt and Jan Springer looked to the Opéra Garnier in Paris. Van Gendt had earlier designed the Koninklijk Concertgebouw; Springer was director of the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunst. Together they designed not an auditorium for one art form, but a house for drama, music and dance. 

You can see that in the way it is put together. Behind the neo-Renaissance façade follows a sequence of corridors and foyers that lead you step by step to the neo-Baroque Grote Zaal. You do not simply walk in: you are led there. 

Not everything that makes this building special hangs on its walls. Above the chandelier in the Grote Zaal is an attic, originally designed as a technical space. It was there that Ellen Vogel played the archangel Raphael in Gysbrecht van Aemstel, her voice descending upon the audience almost literally from heaven.

Beneath the stage lies another layer of history. During the Second World War, the cellars and understage areas were used by the resistance.

And then there are the corridors of the old building. Walk through them and you can almost feel the generations who walked there before you. Their presence lingers in the portraits of theatre-makers whose lives and careers were deeply intertwined with this place.

The collection began in 1900 with a loan from the Rijksmuseum. It included the large portrait of the famous actress Johanna Ziesenis-Wattier, whom Napoleon once called "the greatest actress in Europe". It has now hung in the Koninklijke Foyer for more than 125 years. 

After 1900 the collection grew through gifts and commissions, and with them exceptional artists entered the building. Portrait painters such as Thérèse Schwartze, J.W. Pieneman, Frits Schiller, Nicolaas Wijnberg and Lizzy Ansingh hang alongside more recent work by Anton Corbijn, Marlene Dumas, Iris Kensmil and Ahmet Öğüt. Look closely and you see not only the history of the theatre, but also that of Dutch portraiture. 

What makes it special is that work is added every year. On an actor's anniversary, for example, or on their farewell. 

The winner of the Theo d'Or receives, in collaboration with Stichting Oeuvre Jan van der Vossen, a portrait of their own choosing. And together with The Need for Legacy and the Nederlands Theaterfestival we unveil a portrait every year that makes the life and work of theatre-makers of colour visible. All these works find their way into the Gallery of Honour, which has been built up in the theatre since 1900. 

Curious about the artworks in the Stadsschouwburg? We invite you to come and explore them for yourself. Arrive a little early before your performance and take some time to look around.

All artworks have also been photographed and are available to view in our digital collection.

ITA is building a programme in which Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam, the collection and its heritage are given greater visibility. Through research into that heritage and care of the collection, we want to make the canon more complete - so that the stories that have long gone untold are given a place here too. 

That does not stay behind the scenes. With programmes in The Bookshop, workshops and guided tours we show what we find and how we look at our history today, and we are glad to discuss it with you. On the first Saturday of every month there are public guided tours in Dutch and English. Led by an experienced guide, you walk through the building and hear a great deal more about the history, the collection and the future of Amsterdam's Stadsschouwburg. 

If you would like to talk about the collection or have any questions about it, please contact Diederik Imfeld, Collection & Heritage coordinator, at diederik.imfeld@ita.nl.