Dutch artist, filmmaker, actor, and writer Alex van Warmerdam has a diverse practice; working across multiple mediums he has established a distinctive voice as one of the Netherland’s most renowned filmmakers. Van Warmerdam explores the absurdity, humor, and horror of social conventions and personality types, proposing that devolvement into the surreal is an ever-present possibility.
The artist has long worked between mediums preserving an attitude of creative freedom, and drawing on different approaches to mutually inform and shape his works. Often his paintings are constructed like dream sequences, preparing the viewer for the ensuing moments of an unfolding narrative. The practice of embedding themes from Dutch intellectual and cultural history is manifest in Van Warmerdam’s series Tronies. This body of work references the Dutch Golden Age genre, depicting anonymous individuals, accentuating their features to relay aspects of their personality, state of mind, and character. His latest paintings, part of the series Verschijningen (Apparitions), are based on a multitude of images, photographs and clippings that Van Warmerdam has collected throughout the years and which he subsequently combines. Personages, or characters are found in books or on the internet. Interiors and landscapes found in old magazines, or in his own photographic archive Van Warmerdam’s rich texture and the unexpected color combinations create captivating images that intrigue the viewer with their powerful presence and offer alternative ways of perceiving the ordinary.
Alex van Warmerdam (b. 1952 in Haarlem, NL) studied painting and printing at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam (NL). After graduating in 1974 he started his first theater company that later became the famed ‘Orkater' and subsequently ‘De Mexicaanse Hond’. Van Warmerdam has won many awards for his work in literature, theater and film, including the Palme d’Or nomination for his film Borgman. In 2010 his multidisciplinary work was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum, Schiedam (NL) and in 2018 the EYE Filmmuseum, Amsterdam (NL) presented his retrospective exhibition titled l’Histoire Kaputt. Van Warmerdam was awarded the Prins Bernhard Cultuur Prize for Theatre as well as the Johannes Vermeer Prize for his entire oeuvre. In September 2021, the artist released his tenth movie, titled Nr. 10.
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Alex van Warmerdam
Apparitions 13 Dec 2024 - 15 Feb 2025 GRIMM 54 White St, New York, NY (US) -
Alex van Warmerdam
Verschijningen 12 Sep - 23 Oct 2021 GRIMM Keizersgracht 241, Amsterdam (NL) -
54 White Street | Inaugural exhibition
GRIMM's new gallery in Tribeca 20 Mar - 17 Apr 2021 GRIMM 54 White St, New York, NY (US)Join us in March 2021 for the grand opening of GRIMM's new space in Tribeca at 54 White Street. For more further information, please email info@grimmgallery.comRead more -
Alex van Warmerdam
Tronies 1 Sep - 13 Oct 2018 GRIMM Keizersgracht 241, Amsterdam (NL) -
Alex van Warmerdam
L’histoire kaputt 10 Jun - 2 Sep 2018 Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam (NL) -
Pop-up GRIMM Brussels
Group Exhibition 18 Apr - 5 May 2018 Ravensteinstraat 44, Brussels (BE) -
Alex van Warmerdam
Solo exhibition 14 Feb - 24 May 2010 Stedelijk Museum Schiedam (NL)
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Met Groenteman in de kast: #72, Alex van Warmerdam (Podcast, in Dutch)
Gijs Groenteman, Met Groenteman in de kast, De Volkskrant, September 30, 2021 -
Overrompelend totaalkunstwerk Nr. 10 (in Dutch)
Jan Pieter Ekker, Het Parool, September 29, 2021 -
Alex van Warmerdam: ‘Met zebra’s en verkeerslichten kan ik niets, veel te naturalistisch’ (in Dutch)
Peter van Brummelen, Het Parool, September 24, 2021 -
Alex van Warmerdam – Verschijningen (in Dutch)
Edo Dijksterhuis, De Filmkrant, September 22, 2021 -
Op de set bij de nieuwste speelfilm van Alex van Warmerdam (in Dutch)
Bor Beekman, De Volkskrant, December 4, 2019 -
Alex van Warmerdam's Tronies in Amsterdam
Sasha Bogojev, Juxtapoz, October 8, 2019 -
Kleiner maar nog steeds degrootste (in Dutch)
Jan Pieter Ekker, Het Parool, February 7, 2019 -
'Alleen als ik alert ben stop ik op tijd' (in Dutch)
Jan Pieter Ekker, Het Parool, September 1, 2018 -
Interview met multitalent en ontregelaar Alex van Warmerdam
Eye-Exposed, August 16, 2018 -
Gesamtkunstenaar Alex van Warmerdam: een schilderkunstig oeuvre
Claire Hoogakker, Eye-Exposed, June 28, 2018 -
Alex van Warmerdam en de kunst van het weglaten
NPO Radio 1, June 24, 2018 -
Panty op een kapstok (in Dutch)
Gawie Keyser, De Groene Amsterdammer, June 20, 2018 -
Alex van Warmerdam Spreekt Liever Met Beelden
Ann-Sofie Dekeyser, De Standaard, June 16, 2018 -
Wat Je Moet Weten Over de Absurde Expositie van Alex van Warmerdam
Zoë Heijke, CJP, June 12, 2018 -
Wat maakt de films van Alex van Warmerdam eigenlijk zo typisch Van Warmerdams? (in Dutch)
Ronald Rovers, Trouw, June 12, 2018 -
Infiltreren in bizar wrede wereld Van Warmerdam (in Dutch)
Dana Linssen, NRC, June 12, 2018 -
Alle facetten kunstenaarschap Alex van Warmerdam in EYE (in Dutch)
Jan Pieter Ekker, Het Parool, June 9, 2018 -
Verwarring en euforie na afdaling in hoofd van Alex van Warmerdam (in Dutch)
Mark Moorman, De Volkskrant, June 9, 2018 -
Zelfbladerend boek, beetje porno, zwarte lakschoen onder water: Alex van Warmerdam exposeert (in Dutch)
Bor Beekman, De Volkskrant, June 8, 2018 -
Nooit Meer Slapen
VPRO, June 5, 2018 -
Alex van Warmerdam: 'Ik maak wat ik te maken heb'
VPRO, June 4, 2018 -
Expositie Alex van Warmerdam in EYE (in Dutch)
ANP, Het Parool, April 23, 2018 -
Dwalen in topstukken uit het depot
Het Nieuwe Stadsblad, July 27, 2017 -
Alex van Warmerdam maakt tiende speelfilm (in Dutch)
Het Parool, May 26, 2017 -
Alex van Warmerdam: ‘Schrijven wordt pas leuk, als je je afvraagt: wie staat er voor de deur?'
Oene Kummer, PLOT Magazine, June 14, 2015 -
Film 'Schneider vs. Bax'
De Wereld Draait Door, May 20, 2015 -
Exclusive: Director Alex van Warmerdam’s Gorgeous ‘Borgman’ Concept Art Paintings
Zack Sharf, IndieWire, June 20, 2014 -
A Home Invader, Creepily Charismatic
Stephen Holden, The New York Times, June 5, 2014 -
Middle-of-the-Road Absurdism: The Cinema of Dutch Director Alex van Warmerdam
Peter Verstraten, Senses of Cinema, March 1, 2014 -
Alex van Warmerdam krijgt oeuvreprijs (in Dutch)
Trouw, August 26, 2013 -
Running to Rachmaninoff
Martin Hartung, MoMA, July 24, 2013 -
Tergend vreemd (in Dutch)
Gawie Keyser , De Groene Amsterdammer, June 21, 2013 -
Creepy Film at Cannes: Alex van Warmerdam's Borgman
Karin Badt, Huffpost, May 21, 2013 -
C'est qui déjà, Alex van Warmerdam, le réalisateur de “Borgman”?
Laurent Rigoulet, Télérama, May 19, 2013 -
Speelfilm 'Borgman': Marc van Warmerdam en Hadewych Minis - 22-4-2013
De Wereld Draait Door, April 22, 2013 -
Dankwoord Alex van Warmerdam bij het aanvaarden van de Johannes Vermeer Prijs, staatsprijs voor de kunsten
Johannes Vermeer Prijs, November 15, 2010 -
Alex van Warmerdam wint Johannes Vermeer Prijs
VPRO, June 15, 2010 -
Meisje met koffers (in Dutch)
Joop Hartog, de Volkskrant, March 29, 2010 -
'Ik hoor 'absurdistisch' en denk: het zal wel'
Sacha Gertsik, Cineville, March 4, 2010 -
Onopgesmukt als zijn storyboards (in Dutch)
Gijsbert van der Wal, NRC, February 22, 2010 -
Artistieke duizendpoot Alex van Warmerdam
Digitale Kunstkrant, February 18, 2010 -
Noodlot (in Dutch)
Walter van der Kooi, De Groene Amsterdammer, February 17, 2010 -
Op Scherp: Alex van Warmerdam
VPRO, September 22, 2009 -
Ongewenste vreemdeling (in Dutch)
Gawie Keyser, De Groene Amsterdammer, September 29, 2006