Carel Visser in het Rijksmuseum

‘I use the same principles as nature: structure, symmetry and asymmetry’, Carel Visser once said. They would remain a constant factor within an exceptionally rich body of work that made Visser the leading Dutch sculptor of the twentieth century. Materials like industrial iron, steel and concrete were transformed in his hands into robust sculptures sometimes metres high, which exist entirely in their own right, yet connect effortlessly with the space in which they are placed.

This year, a Dutch artist is featured for the first time in the summer exhibition in the Rijksmuseum gardens. Monumental sculptures that Visser created for public spaces and that are usually scattered across parks, squares and city centres have for once been brought together. They combine with Signaal 1 and 2, which have been on permanent display in the museum gardens since 2024, to create a unique and wide-ranging survey of his fifty-year artistic practice.