Contemporary Art Museum Opens in Amsterdam
AMSTERDAM — A private museum of modern and contemporary art has joined the heavy hitters on the city’s Museumplein.
The Modern Contemporary Museum, or Moco, which opens to the public Saturday with a show of works by Banksy and Andy Warhol, is across from the Rijksmuseum and adjacent to the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk. It aims to present the “rock stars of contemporary art,” according to its founders, the art dealers Kim and Lionel Logchies.
The husband and wife own the Lionel Gallery in the Spiegel quarter of Amsterdam. The gallery represents Banksy, Mark Lagrange, Jeff Koons, Julian Opie and others.
They have invested an undisclosed amount of their own money into the project and enlisted the help of four unnamed investors to rent the 13,500-square-foot space, in the former Villa Alsberg, a stately private home built in 1904.
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The home of the Modern Contemporary Museum Amsterdam.
The home of the Modern Contemporary Museum Amsterdam.Credit Hugo Thomassen
“We had a good few years, so we thought we could make our house nicer or we could make a big jump and do this,” Ms. Logchies said during a tour of the space on Friday. “Some clients were interested in investing as well.”
Exhibitions will be based on works loaned from private collectors, including clients of the Lionel Gallery. Ms. Logchies said future shows could include works by Damien Hirst, Salvador Dalí and Picasso, as well as emerging street artists such as Os Gemeos, KAWS and Maya Hayuk.