EN
Oomen Collection
by
Collector Frans Oomen
At first glance, one thing is clear: someone has been busy. From floor to ceiling, beside and above one another, artworks fill the walls. This is only a part of the collection of Frans Oomen, brought over from his home in eyesight from Museum Villa. From the outside it looks like a typical Amsterdam house. Inside, four floors are packed with art. Oomen is not a wealthy patron with a climate-controlled safe. He is someone who has spent every euro for more than 40 years on artworks that move him. As a result, works by emerging artists stack up alongside names such as Keith Haring, Gerhard Richter, and Julie Mehretu. And yes – even Rembrandt.
In contrast to the other rooms of the museum, these walls are filled to the brim with many works by many artists simultaneously. Some artworks stick out on first sight, others you might only notice on the third look. The room functions almost like a visual candyshop – you can pick and choose your favorite. Can you point out something you don’t like? An artist you’ve seen before? Something you’d like to create as well? The presentation invites a different kind of attention. Instead of focusing on one isolated artwork, your eye continuously moves across the walls, comparing, connecting, and discovering unexpected relationships.
Work in Progress
Frans Oomen’s home on the Haarlemmerweg, a few hundred meters from Museum Villa, is filled with art. A life-sized monochrome pope sits in the living room. A colony of squeaky rats spreads out on the carpet. Marina Abramovic performs alongside family photographs. Works by Ai Weiwei, Thomas Struth, and Pipilotti Rist form part of a much larger collection of editions, prints, and unique works. Artworks of all mediums hang in the kitchen, bathrooms, line hallways, staircases, and stack in the attic. They live alongside everyday objects, their color and oddness twisting the rhythms of domestic life. The traditional image of an art collector involves white cotton gloves and sterile storage facilities, where work is kept out of sight. Oomen’s approach is different. He doesn’t worry about dust or sunlight. He lives alongside his treasures. “I’d rather enjoy a work for 30 years and see it discolor, than keep it locked away.”
As he is moving away from Amsterdam, one last glimpse of the neighbours collection is put on display at Museum Villa. From more than 4.000 pieces, a selection offers insight into the logic, intuition, and curiosity that shaped it. What does a man from our neighborhood see in the artworld? What moves him? This room becomes a spatial portrait of collecting itself, presenting collecting as a cultural practice. Through this, the private becomes temporarily public. A timecapsule of an experience, time, and place within the artworld.
“I collect works that challenge and stretch my ideas of what art can be, each work telling a story of time and transformation. Together, these works reflect my personal quest for meaning and my desire to find art that continues to challenge, move, and inspire.”
Trivia
Over 40 years, Oomen has assembled over 4.000 artworks. Roughly 100 per year. If you ask his accountant, that math doesn’t entirely hold up: in 2025 alone he acquired 252 artworks. Almost one every working day!
The display follows the historic Salonhanging from the late Renaissance. Artworks are clustered densely, often from floor to ceiling, emphasizing the breadth of a collection rather than the singularity of an artwork.
About Frans Oomen
Mask by Joep van Lieshout
Frans Oomen (1962) was born and raised in the center of Amsterdam. Here, he was lucky to experience the 1970s and 80s, a period defined by experimentation, improvisation, and creative freedom. At the time, the Westerpark neighbourhood was considered rough and largely avoided. Oomen, however, was drawn to it. As a young artist he became part of the local creative scene: squatting houses, organizing exhibitions in the abandoned Westergasfabriek, and earning a living sweeping the streets.
Oomen studied multiple artistic disciplines: drawing, painting, photography, and art history at some of the most prestigious institutions of the city like the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. During these years he began exchanging artworks with classmates. A simple switch between friends, one work for another. These formed the foundation of what grew into a collection of more than 4.000 works, including an impressive range of internationally recognized artists. Oomen calls himself a trader with hawk eyes. Someone who notices early what might become important later, and then strikes – even if it is not wise. His pride lies not in the current market value, but in the fact that he was right on time. When asked about buying works by artists who are already famous, he replies: “Then I probably already bought it ten years ago”.
Today, Oomen carries many titles – collector, gallerist, publisher, teacher, and artist. All are connected by a lifelong engagement with art. As a full-time visual arts teacher, his financial means as a collector are modest compared to many others. One practical strategy helped the collection grow: he often buys two works from an edition. One to keep, and one to sell later to finance the next purchase. Through two online galleries for art editions and through collaborations with artists and publishers worldwide – Oomen maintains his relationships, remains well informed, and continues to expand the collection.