The Jopie Huisman Museum, one of the North's most popular museums, is dedicated to the work and life of Frisian painter Jopie Huisman. Love for nature, compassion, but also giving value to the insubstantial. It is the human dimension that is the common thread in his oeuvre, which is as multifaceted as it is fascinating.
The museum, at the time the first museum in the Netherlands built especially for an artist who was still alive, houses a fascinating collection of paintings, drawings and watercolours in various styles. Sometimes realistic, sometimes expressionist, caricatural or panoramic, sometimes with a nod to Jopie's idols, such as Rembrandt and van Gogh. But always sincere, poetic and with a story. Because at the Jopie Huisman, there are no paintings on the wall, but stories; the special, emotional, original, often comical stories of a great artist. Visitors are taken into his world by Jopie.
Jopie Huisman (1922-2000) was a painter, scrap dealer, storyteller and philosopher, but of the accessible kind. A BN'er in the 1980s and 1990s, thanks to his many media appearances. With sayings like, "what is discarded as old rubbish turns into something that can move", the Netherlands hung on his every word.
It is precisely the philosophical statements and life wisdom that form a second layer in the museum, in which Jopie himself speaks to the visitor via the audio tour.
In the contemporary, recently totally renovated museum in Workum, Jopie Huisman's multifaceted works are arranged in three central themes: sustainability, nature and compassion. For young visitors, there is a special children's audio tour, with workbook. For foreign visitors, there is a German and English version of the audio tour.
Besides the permanent exhibition 'Jopie's cathedral', changing exhibitions are organised annually in the new museum wing.
The Jopie Huisman Museum: moving, fascinating and enchanting.
Art and stories from a unique artist
