Piet Zwaanswijk

Piet Zwaanswijk (12 September 1947 – 14 November 2024) was a Dutch sculptor, engraver, illustrator, painter, photographer and installation artist.

Zwaanswijk was born in Haarlem in 1947. His father was in the army. Several of his works are war-related.

Together with Jan Heijer, Zwaanswijk founded the museum called  and was a creative workshop in Haarlem. It opened on 30 October 2005 in a vacant commercial building. The museum closed 1 on September 2019.

Zwaanswijk is regarded as "one of the most respected post-World War II visual artists of Haarlem" and his work had a "profound influence on the local art scene".

In 2016, Zwaanswijk's artwork Merry Fucking Christmas in Haarlem received criticism. The work included a mannequin shooting a Christmas peak through the head with a gun. According to Zwaanswijk, it was intended as an indictment of the commercial nature of Christmas. Because some Haarlem residents found it offensive, former alderman Jur Botter asked the artist to remove the work.

Zwaanswijk had his last main exhibition in 2022 named Deadline. This anniversary exhibition, in honor of his 75th birthday, was about the theme of war: from the World War I, Vietnam War to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Zwaanswijk suffered from pancreatic cancer and died via euthanasia on 14 November 2024, at the age of 77.

References

Category:Dutch artists
Category:Engravers
Category:Illustrators
Category:Dutch painters
Category:Dutch photographers
Category:Dutch sculptors
Category:1947 births
Category:2024 deaths
Category:People from Haarlem
Category:Place of death missing
Category:Deaths by euthanasia