Art museum covers gallery floor in peanut butter to honour late Dutch artist

The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam is paying tribute to the late Dutch conceptual artist Wim T. Schippers by recreating one of his most iconic and absurd works: the "Peanut Butter Floor."

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On July 2 and 3, armed with buckets of peanut butter and plastering tools, they set to work again to recreate the floor.

Using approximately 800 pounds of smooth peanut butter, museum staff meticulously created a 25-square-meter hexagonal shape on the gallery floor. This installation follows the precise instructions left by Schippers, who died last month at the age of 83. The artwork, originally conceived in the 1960s, is intended to provoke questions about the definition and value of art.

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Schippers viewed art as something that does not necessarily have to be logical or useful. It may be nonsensical, just like life itself, and precisely for that reason be worthwhile.

Workers, described as 'peanut butter plasterers' who had installed the piece before, returned to recreate the floor with great precision. This is not the first time the "Peanut Butter Floor" has been exhibited since its 1962 debut. Schippers, known for his unconventional approach, viewed art as something that could be nonsensical, much like life itself, and therefore worthwhile.

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Precisely because it is so characteristic of his way of thinking and working, the Peanut Butter Floor is a fitting tribute.

The museum selected this particular work to commemorate Schippers, citing its recognizability and how it encapsulates his unique perspective, sense of humor, and embrace of the absurd. Schippers himself specified the brand of peanut butter, Calvé, because it "spread so nicely," though he never dictated the shape of the piece.

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spread so nicely