Visit the Museum Where Peanut Butter is Art

If you like art, and if you are particularly fond of peanut butter, a visit to Rotterdam’s Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen has all the makings for your perfect day. It is the home of an exhibit that will make any peanut butter lover’s mouth water.

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen opened in 1849 and quickly became one of the Netherland’s most celebrated houses of art. Its collection includes works of Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Rembrandt, and Salvador Dali.

It is also home to the Peanut Butter Platform. This unusual example of contemporary art is the creation of Wim T. Schippers. Schippers is a writer and visual artist. His specialty is using common items in unusual ways. Among his works was a 1962 exhibit in Museum Fodor that consisted of a massive pink pudding that filled a room, a room completely sprinkled with salt, and another room filled with broken glass. Another exhibit included a chair covered with canned noodles.

In December 2010, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen decided to buy into Schippers’ vision of an environment covered in food. It became home to Schippers’ concept of a peanut butter floor. The exhibit first appeared at Galerie Mickery in Loenersloot in 1969. As it appeared in Rotterdam, the exhibit was a 13 x 40 feet (4 x 12 meters) rectangle of peanut butter spread on the floor. It also included an interactive video by which visitors could ask questions of the artist.

Schippers maintains a sense of humor about his art. When the exhibit was unveiled, Schippers cried out, “Isn’t this fantastic! We’re all watching peanut butter!”

If you are one of those types who really don’t understand contemporary art (and this writer confesses to being one of them), you may wish to visit the exhibit anyway, if only to contemplate its monetary value if the peanut butter were to be converted into diamonds. Of course, if you have a peanut allergy, you’d better stay away at all costs.

For more information about the peanut butter floor, including interviews with the artist, watch this video produced by the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen:

 

---

Read more fun facts about art.

Read more fun facts about food.