Armando In Amersfoort

Under the title Armando in Amersfoort, Museum Flehite presents paintings by Armando from the Amersfoort municipal collection in two rooms. In the museum's garden, a selection of characteristic sculptures from the Armando Foundation collection is on display.

Armando's strong connection with Amersfoort

The exhibition Armando in Amersfoort is a tribute to an artist who, over the course of his life, built up a rich and meaningful oeuvre and who has a special bond with Amersfoort. Armando (Amsterdam, 18 September 1929 – Potsdam, 1 July 2018) spent a large part of his youth in Amersfoort. The Leusderheide to the south of the city was initially his playground, until in 1941 the German occupiers established Kamp Amersfoort in the area. The events that took place at this location during the war made a deep impression on the young Armando and strongly influenced his later artistic development.

The core collection of the municipality of Amersfoort

The core collection of the municipality of Amersfoort comprises 21 works by Armando. They were acquired at the time of the establishment of the Armando Museum and largely relate to the period in which the artist was confronted with Kamp Amersfoort. The collection had until recently been on long-term loan to Museum Oud-Amelisweerd and has now returned to Amersfoort.

Exhibition in the Elleboogkerk, formerly the Armando Museum

In 1998, the Armando Museum was opened in the Elleboogkerk in Amersfoort. In a major fire in 2007, the museum was destroyed, along with various works by Armando and other artists. The museum fire prompted German artist Raffael Rheinsberg (Kiel 1943 – 2016 Forst) to create a floor-filling installation, composed of various objects from the fire — many of them charred black. This impressive installation, "Schwarzes Wasser" (a reference to a work by Armando), was first exhibited in November 2008 in the Rietveld Pavilion in Amersfoort. The work was recently acquired at auction by Museum Flehite, along with three other works recalling the fire.

Author: Annebeth Felet