Are you a big fan of photography? Then you’d definitely wouldn’t want to miss the Huis Marseille, the oldest photography museum in Amsterdam. The old building housing the museum on Amsterdam’s famous Keizersgracht and the temporary exhibitions are both exquisite and impressive.
Huis Marseille is the first photography museum in Amsterdam. The museum is a window into the world of photography. The museum houses a collection of works that showcase the rich history of European, Asian and African photography. Every three months you see a new photo exhibition in Huis Marseille. The museum is located on Keizersgracht in a beautiful building that dates from 1665. The building still has the appearance of a residential home. The warmth and intimacy have remained, but the rooms are now halls, decorated with beautiful works of photography. In contrast to the exhibition program, which also includes historical photography, the Huis Marseille collection mainly consists of contemporary photography. Focus areas include Dutch, South African and Japanese photography.
Huis Marseille is a house for contemporary photography with an international orientation. How do photographers develop a new visual language that is relevant to the artistic nature of photography, which at the same time reflects on this time? That is the question that is central to Huis Marseille and that influences the exhibition program. At a time when photography is unprecedentedly popular, as a (mass) medium accessible to everyone and omnipresent, photography as an artistic medium is constantly on the move. Huis Marseille opts for photography in which an artistic visual language is central and which is characterised by a passionate research spirit, as part of continuous research into avant-garde innovation. In addition, photography in Huis Marseille has social relevance and many interfaces with the changing spirit of the times. In addition to the permanent collection, in which photographers such as Ryan McGinley, Juul Kraijer and Pieter Hugo are represented, the museum offers a rich and varied exhibition program that is changed on average four times a year.
