Dutch Graffiti Library
It’s about graffiti culture
A initiative dedicated to the history of graffiti culture told through objects and stories of the Dutch Graffiti Library collection and an eye for underground artists with a street-smart mentality.
Stories about graffiti culture
The relationship between graffiti and contemporary fine art
Seventy-five years after the invention of the spray can, Centraal Museum is the first museum in the Netherlands to trace the mutual influences between graffiti and contemporary art along an art-historical timeline. This autumn, the museum presents Graffiti, an exhibition featuring almost 120 works that connect the practice of graffiti pioneers and renowned artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Blade, Keith Haring, Lady Pink, Klara Lidén, Charlotte Posenenske and Rammellzee.
Henry Chalfant to Amsterdam
From October 9, 2026 to March 13, 2027, STRAAT Museum presents ART IS NOT A CRIME. Henry Chalfant: Capturing graffiti culture, NYC, 1977–1987. The exhibition showcases the legacy of photographer and documentary maker Henry Chalfant (United States, 1940), whose work and personality continue to shape graffiti culture to this day. It is the first major retrospective exhibition in the Netherlands to approach graffiti from its own documentary core.
exhibition: the ESSENCE in STRAAT Museum
STRAAT Museum will present the ESSENCE, an exhibition exploring the cultural meaning and foundations of graffiti. Featuring objects, materials, and stories from the Dutch Graffiti Library collection, the exhibition highlights the intentions, codes, and foundations of graffiti.
Amsterdam notes
An inside story by Chris Reinewald (1955), published by Dutch Graffiti Library, about Keith Haring (1958-1990) in Holland, just before his worldwide breakthrough. Plus: never shown works by Haring and the Dutch graffiti scene of the 1980’s
The first Dutch writer bombing
the New York City subway
Finally after more than 30 years an answer to the question “What is a young man from The Hague doing bombing the one line in the 145th Street Tunnel with Bodé nudes?” asked in the book ‘Spraycan Art’ has arisen!