Arjan van Helmond

Last Saturday, the kindest, sweetest man passed away.

He touched the lives and hearts of many. He shared his care, his wise lessons and his unconditional love with us.

We will miss him dearly — my mother, my sister and brother, me, and all our families.

In recent years, he still came to all my exhibitions — even after losing his sight. His presence meant everything.

Ad van Helmond
17 April 1941 — 4 April 2026

My work: What will grow in this soil… at Gerhard Hofland booth B02, Art Rotterdam

Don’t miss it! The final days of ‘Thuis (Home)’ at Museum Het Rembrandthuis.
Curated by Nathalie Maciesza, the exhibition is on view until 4 January 2026.

In ‘Thuis (Home)’, thirteen contemporary artists reflect on the idea of home – from symbols of belonging to the experience of losing one’s house.
On view from 26 September 2025 to 4 January 2026, at Rembrandt’s former home.

Featuring works by Sadik Kwaish Alfraji, Arash Fakhim, Foundland Collective, Arjan van Helmond, Gvantsa Jgushia, Polina Medvedeva, Neda Mirhosseini, Olphaert den Otter, Satijn Panyigay, Pris Roos, Maria Roosen, Tian Teng, Pink de Thierry, and Rembrandt.

contemporaryart amsterdammuseums artinams senseofhome identity.

I’m learning how to make paints and pigments from plants and flowers. Super interesting and fun. Looking forward to the second weekend at Anja Schrik.

THUIS at Museum Rembrandthuis (26 Sep 2025 – 4 Jan 2026) explores the many feelings connected to home. Grateful that Curtains #11 is part of this exhibition. 🌿 We often wish that closing the curtains brings safety, comfort, and belonging—as if shutting out the world with its threats of violence, war, disease, and sorrow could protect us. But of course we can’t completely shut ourselves off.

Yesterday the exhibition THUIS opened at the Rembrandt House Museum. Curated by Nathalie Maciesza, it’s a beautiful and moving show about home, belonging, and connection. Highly recommended—go and see it!

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Final week of ‘HOW TO BE BOTH’, a small exhibition of drawings I made with Lieve Hakkers for the ArtWall at the Dutch Cancer Institute. Thank you and Edith and the Kunstcommissie van AvL for making this possible!

Memories of the garden in Lebanon returned to their place of origin in Camera Obscura — where water appeared as both still and threatening, or restless and swirling in paintings like ‘Under the ariche’ or ‘Legs #1. ‘Oranges #3’ zooms out to the landscape surrounding the place. With the support of

Some of the works in Camera Obscura are ré-interpretations on paper of images I’ve used before. Others are new additions to the installation like this ‘boat racing’. Using images in which human bodies appeared was quite a challenge because it changes the focus and feel of the original installation radically and I was forced to edit out quite some new works. These ones stayed though.

Here the announcement…such a beautiful place.

Lazy Lula in the cellar of Dar El Birkeh in Bater as the first visitor of my 24 h exhibition there ‘Camera Obscura’