ERWIN OLAF, BETWEEN PERFECTION AND FREEDOM

editor AÏCHA PILMEYER

Stedelijk Museum presents Erwin Olaf – Freedom. The first major exhibition reflecting on his work since his unexpected death two years ago.

As you approach the exhibition, you are confronted by Self-Portrait 50 Years: I Wish, I Am, I Will Be (2009), a triptych of self-portraits that many remember vividly. The three images meet you at eye level. On the left, Erwin appears healthy and confident, his torso bare, his expression steady. In the middle, he is softer, more distant, with slightly longer hair and a more covered-up body. On the right, he appears fragile, with grey hair, wild eyebrows, and an oxygen tube in his nose.

The triptych confronts viewers with the reality of his illness and sudden death. Beside it hang more of his striking and unforgettable works, including his distinctive portrait of Queen Máxima and the stylised fashion images that bear his unmistakable signature. Their placement catches you by surprise. Why show all these iconic works before the exhibition even begins? But it also makes you wonder what’s waiting inside.

Erwin Olaf
Self-Portrait, I Wish, I Am, I Will Be
2009 © Estate Erwin Olaf
courtesy Galerie Ron Mandos Amsterdam

Presented in collaboration with Studio Erwin Olaf and curated by Charl Landvreugd, this exhibition goes beyond what we think we know of Erwin Olaf Springveld (1959-2023). The Stedelijk takes a step further than previous retrospectives, not only showing the photographer we remember but revealing the artist he truly was.

That a major exhibition of Erwin Olaf’s work would be shown here at the Stedelijk Museum is something he, unfortunately, never got to know. During his lifetime, he was not given the opportunity to exhibit here. Yet before his passing, he told his longtime studio manager, business partner, and best friend for 28 years, Shirley den Hartog, that if a retrospective were ever to happen, he hoped it would be at the Stedelijk. After his death, she made it her mission to fulfil that wish.

left:
Erwin Olaf, Chessmen, V, 1988 © Estate Erwin Olaf, courtesy Galerie Ron Mandos Amsterdam

middle:
Erwin Olaf, Ladies Hats, Hennie, 1985 © Estate Erwin Olaf, courtesy Galerie Ron Mandos Amsterdam

right:
Erwin Olaf, Aids Campaign - Kan ik jou verleiden, Martin Schenk, 1995 © Estate Erwin Olaf, courtesy Galerie Ron Mandos Amsterdam

THE WORKS YOU DON’T EXPECT

What you’ll see here isn’t the usual work. Not the perfectly staged glamour. Instead, the museum invites us into the studio: into process, conversation, and doubt.

Charl Landvreugd: “I was taught that a work is just a snapshot of a moment. It’s only at the end, when someone stops working, that you can fully understand what their practice was all about. Working closely with Shirley den Hartog, I explored what his practice was about and what drove him most deeply. The answer was clear, according to Shirley: personal freedom. That became the starting point. I learned that he was making sculptures, videos, and drawings, which shifted my perspective. I began to approach him not just as a photographer but as an artist who used his lens to understand the world. What did this lens do to him? How did it develop? Together with the studio, we narrowed the selection down from over a thousand works. It was an exciting process, full of back and forth and seeing footage we never saw before.”

That’s why, explains Rein Wolfs, director of the Stedelijk Museum, the well-known works — the ones people expect to see — are displayed outside the main exhibition space. Inside, you meet a different Olaf: an artist trying to understand the world around him, his own identity, and the times he lived in. You see his activism, his experimentation, and his constant curiosity about material, light, and framing.

left:
Erwin Olaf, Mature, Cindy C., 78, 1999 © Estate Erwin Olaf, courtesy Galerie Ron Mandos Amsterdam

middle:
Erwin Olaf, Nederlands Dans Theater, 01, 2009 © Estate Erwin Olaf, courtesy Galerie Ron Mandos Amsterdam

right:
Erwin Olaf, Skin Deep, Reclining Nude No. 05, 2015 © Estate Erwin Olaf, courtesy Galerie Ron Mandos Amsterdam

A JOURNEY THROUGH HIS WAY OF WORKING

The exhibition unfolds both chronologically and thematically. It begins with his early black-and-white reportage photography, a result of his journalistic studies, where he realised that his camera gave him courage. It allowed him to approach people, to listen, and to look closely. You can see that his images are rooted in human connection, empathy, and observation.

From there, you move into the studio years, a world of experimentation with light, composition, and emotion. The people he worked with became his muses, each one shaping his evolving language of storytelling. Following this, the exhibition rooms have themes like Skin, Dance, Grief, and Party, where Olaf’s interests and activism quietly pulse beneath the surface. He believed in listening to many sides of every story as a way to challenge prejudice and misunderstanding. His art became a form of resistance: elegant, deliberate, and deeply human.

This activism is visible not only in the subjects he engaged with, as Shirley said—he was a true news addict, devouring multiple newspapers—but also in how he translated contemporary themes into his work. Nudity appears in many of his works, a reflection of Olaf’s genuine curiosity about the human form. He was drawn to all kinds of bodies, from dancers’ sculpted figures to those marked by life’s experiences, valuing the individuality of each. For him, these images were a natural extension of observing and appreciating the human body, not an attempt to shock.

left:
Erwin Olaf, Im Wald, Auf dem See, 2020 © Estate Erwin Olaf, courtesy Galerie Ron Mandos Amsterdam

right:
Erwin Olaf, April Fool 2020, 11.30am, 2020 © Estate Erwin Olaf, courtesy Galerie Ron Mandos Amsterdam

TRANSIENCE

Erwin Olaf became increasingly fascinated by transience, particularly his own. His later series Berlin (2012), Im Wald (2020), and Muses (2023) reflect this. In the final room, the sense of an ending is palpable. The work For Life (2023) is shown here for the first time. It is a piece that Erwin Olaf was never able to complete himself; following his passing, the studio finished the video according to his detailed instructions.

In the same space, the exhibition concludes with an intriguing final self-portrait by Erwin Olaf. It was intended as a diptych: one photograph showing his lungs, held by a doctor after the transplant. Its neutrality makes it even more striking when standing before it, once you realise these are his actual lungs. Every detail had been carefully planned by him, from a shortlist of photographers who received precise instructions by email to the portrayal of the doctor.

The second part of the diptych was to be a nude self-portrait showing the stitched wound where his lungs had been replaced. Erwin Olaf said: “I think it’s amazing, as a kind of farewell portrait of an essential part of my body. It could become a wonderful little work of art. I have become my photographs. What I create is me. And that will remain, no matter what happens.”

He also instructed: “After my body has recovered, I will choose the final image myself.” He was able to select the photograph of the doctor holding his lungs, taken by Piotr Owczarzak and Wouter van Gens. Shirley recalled that the first thing Erwin asked when he woke up from the coma after the operation was: “Was the photo good?” “Erwin’s way of handling the truth was to face his greatest enemy: his lungs. He pursued perfection relentlessly, going on and on until he found the perfect moment. As an artist, you should push your own limits to tell the story.” The second self-portrait was never realised, as Erwin Olaf passed away on the day the photographs were meant to be taken.

For Shirley, this show is deeply personal. A way to grieve, to honour, and to complete the story of a man who, for years, felt unseen by the very museum now celebrating him. Erwin Olaf accepted that his work might not belong at the Stedelijk. In the end, he found his place here — on his own terms.

Erwin Olaf - Freedom runs from October 11 2025, until March 1 2026, at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Book your ticket here. Make sure to check the exhibition catalogue for an even deeper understanding of Erwin Olaf and his work.