Until 13 September 2026, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam presents Ed van der Elsken. Up Close, an exhibition about the work and creative process of one of the most important Dutch photographers of the twentieth century. The exhibition is the result of years of research into Ed van der Elsken’s personal archive of work, which has been jointly managed by the Rijksmuseum and the Nederlands Fotomuseum since 2019.

Ed van der Elsken (1925–1990) photographed in the Netherlands, Paris, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Japan, Hong Kong, Mexico, the United States and Indonesia. His work is direct, personal and often strikingly intimate. Van der Elsken turned his camera towards people, streets and encounters. He showed everyday life as it unfolded: lively, raw and sometimes uncomfortably close.

Jointly caring for an important photographic archive

In 2019, the Rijksmuseum and the Nederlands Fotomuseum jointly acquired the estate of Ed van der Elsken. This ensured that the photographer’s personal working archive remained preserved in the Netherlands. Since then, the museums have worked together on the management and research of this material, so that it can be better preserved, studied and shared.

The Nederlands Fotomuseum already managed Van der Elsken’s complete archive of negatives and slides. Since 2019, this has been supplemented with materials including contact sheets and photographs. The Rijksmuseum incorporated a large number of prints into its collection. Together, these materials show the artistic choices made by Van der Elsken, and how he worked and developed as a photographer and filmmaker.

How Van der Elsken worked

Ed van der Elsken. Up Close shows not only well-known photographs, but also material that is usually less visible. The exhibition includes contact sheets, notes, trial versions of photobooks and experiments from the darkroom. Photographs from the collection of the Nederlands Fotomuseum are also shown, alongside works from collections including the Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Leiden University Libraries.

It is precisely this material that brings Van der Elsken’s working method closer. Contact sheets reveal which images he made, which photographs he selected and which he left out. In his trial versions of photobooks, you can see how he placed photographs next to each other, enlarged them, reduced them and moved them around. This makes visible how much work lies behind his well-known photographs and books.

Research for the future

By looking at the archive as a whole, researchers and visitors gain a deeper understanding of Van der Elsken’s work. It also becomes clearer how his photographs, books and films came into being over the years.

For the Nederlands Fotomuseum, this collaboration connects to one of the museum’s key tasks: preserving, researching and sharing Dutch photographic heritage with a broad audience. By managing and studying Ed van der Elsken’s archive together with the Rijksmuseum, his photographs, contact sheets and other archival materials remain accessible to the public, researchers and future generations.

Made possible by

The collection was largely donated by Anneke Hilhorst, the widow of Ed van der Elsken, and partly acquired with the support of the Mondriaan Fund, the Rembrandt Association, thanks in part to its Photography and Video Theme Fund and its Dura Art Fund, participants of the VriendenLoterij, the Paul Huf Fund/Rijksmuseum Fund and the Marque Joosten and Eduard Planting Fund/Rijksmuseum Fund.

Ed van der Elsken. Up Close is on view at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam until 13 September 2026.