In Conversation: Robin de Puy

During Amsterdam Art Week, photographer Robin de Puy joins Heske ten Cate, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Amsterdam Museum, for a conversation about portraiture, intimacy and the lives unfolding on either side of the camera. The evening accompanies If Walls Could Speak #1 — Robin de Puy, a large-scale presentation on the construction hoardings along Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, behind which the renovated Amsterdam Museum is taking shape.

To celebrate the museum’s centenary in 2026, de Puy photographed one hundred Amsterdammers, each with their own history and relationship to the museum and the city. Every participant was linked to an object from the collection that moves, surprises or brings back a memory – opening the collection to today’s Amsterdam through their eyes.

The series connects to de Puy’s wider practice: photography as a way to enter others’ lives and recognize something of herself. She has portrayed figures like Jane Goodall and Bernie Sanders, but is equally drawn to those away from the spotlight.

During a US road trip, de Puy met Randy, who became her “brother from another mother”; their friendship and collaboration now spans over a decade, tracing time and change through his life. Her portraits resist the speed with which we usually look at strangers, asking what becomes visible when we stay a little longer.

Ten Cate and de Puy discuss the instinct behind a portrait, the trust it requires, and how individual lives reveal larger histories.

The event will take place in Theater de Richel, Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 282.