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Vrijdag 13:00 - 18:00 Zaterdag 13:00 - 18:00

The Merchant House

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Nederland
Amsterdam
The Merchant House

Curated gallery shows of exceptional contemporary art to collect, presented in a 17th-century canal house in Amsterdam.

The Merchant House (TMH) presents contemporary art projects with sales of art as a funding strategy. Each project, curated by Founding Artistic Director Marsha Plotnitsky, brings together an extended exhibition, cultural and research events, and a dedicated catalogue/artist’s book. TMH has showcased international and Dutch innovators, such as Henk Peeters, Jan Schoonhoven, André de Jong, Chuck Clo

se, Carolee Schneemann, Hilarius Hofstede, Craigie Horsfield, Judit Reigl, Pino Pinelli, and John Coplans, as well as young talent. Since it opened its doors in a historical canal house in Amsterdam in 2013, it has become known as a modern take on the Dutch tradition of a merchant—a vibrant art space freely open to the public.

03/09/2026

TMH Summer Highlights

Last week, Marsha Plotnitsky joined the international jury for POLYPTYQUE 2026, the contemporary photography event presented by Centre Photographique Marseille. We are happy to share that the three selected winners will be presented at The Merchant House next spring.

It was great to see Mary Sue’s work featured in the POLYPTYQUE 2026 announcement, bringing another TMH connection to Marseille.

31/08/2026

🖼️ Zhu Hong
La Sèvre Nantaise II, 2017
Oil on canvas
80 x 120 cm

From our current group show: Fragments, featuring Pino Pinelli, Elsa Tomkowiak, Zhu Hong, and Sylvie Bonnot

24/08/2026

🖼️ Sylvie Bonnot
Shorelines V (Sluisbuurt), 2019. Amsterdam
B&W photography, gelatin silver repositioned on gesso coated wood
Unique work
36 x 42 cm

From our current group show: Fragments, featuring Pino Pinelli, Elsa Tomkowiak, Zhu Hong, and Sylvie Bonnot

17/08/2026

🖼️ Elsa Tomkowiak
VLR7C, 2017/21
Acrylic on biodegradable plastic—recycled materials from the installation In / lumière réfléchie at Les Ateliers Vortex, Dijon, 2017
80 x 100 cm

From our current group show: Fragments, featuring Pino Pinelli, Elsa Tomkowiak, Zhu Hong, and Sylvie Bonnot

11/08/2026

🖼️ Zhu Hong
Nuage 1207, 2021
Oil on canvas
120 x 150 cm

From our current group show: Fragments, featuring Pino Pinelli, Elsa Tomkowiak, Zhu Hong, and Sylvie Bonnot

03/08/2026

🖼️ Pino Pinelli
Piturra GR., 2009
Mixed media, 2 elements
33 cm (diameter), each

From our current group show: Fragments, featuring Pino Pinelli, Elsa Tomkowiak, Zhu Hong, and Sylvie Bonnot

28/07/2026

The Merchant House’s summer exhibition Fragments and the corresponding theme The Merchant House / Your House reflect on how artworks occupy spaces—from public to private, from gallery to home. Featuring works by TMH’s artists—Pino Pinelli (IT, 1938–2024), Elsa Tomkowiak (FR, b. 1981), Zho Hong (CN, b. 1975), Sylvie Bonnot (FR, b. 1982), and André Stempfel (FR, b. 1930)—it engages the architectural legacy of the Amsterdam canal house, suggestions of domestic decor, and TMH’s programming history.

📸 Image: Arjen Veldt
Installation view of the group show Fragments, TMH, 2026.

21/07/2026

You can still visit our current show, Fragments, before the summer break. On display, you can see unique photography by Sylvie Bonnot among works by other great artists.

Sylvie Bonnot (1982, FR) is a photographer and transmedia artist known for her radical questioning of documentary narratives. Her work is held in museum collections and is the subject of several monographs, including Contre-courants (Nouvelles Éditions, Paris, 2016), Derrière la retenue (FACIM Foundation and Actes Sud, 2017), and L’arbre machine – un monde en mue (Éditions Loco, 2024). Her institutional exhibitions include: Musée des Archives Nationales, Paris, and Maison de la Photographie, Lille (2019); Derrière la RetenueI, II, III (solo public commissions), FACIM Foundation, Savoie (2019-23); and Musée de La Roche-sur-Yon (2018). She was awarded the hors les murs residency (2021) at the Observatoire de l’Espace of CNES (French National Space Agency), leading to exhibitions based on her trips to the Baikonur Cosmodrome and the Guiana Space Center.

In 2023-24, Bonnot’s work was presented in Échos des canters (L’Arbre machine) in Rémire-Montjoly, French Guiana, and in Épreuves de la matière and La photo à tout prix at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), Paris. Winner of the ECPAD × ADAGP photographic residency at Fort d’Ivry (2024) and of the Grande Commande Photo Radioscopie, led by the BnF (2022-23), Bonnot joined the Tendance Floue collective in July 2025. Her series Le Royaume des moustiques [The Kingdom of Mosquitoes] was presented in the Emergence section at Paris Photo 2025 with Hangar Gallery.

📸 Image: Arjen Veldt
Installation view of the photography by Sylvie Bonnot from our current show, Fragments, TMH, 2026.

10/07/2026

Our current show Fragments takes its inspiration from artist Pino Pinelli’s signature series. Neither entirely painting nor sculpture, his works unfold across walls in small, color-saturated units. The walls—those rigid partitions, frameworks of “everyspace”—become an area of free play, inviting us, as Pinelli suggested, to touch the works and join him in his art.

Pino Pinelli (1938, Catania, IT – 2024, Milan, IT) is renowned for his pittura con corpo, or painting with an “invitation to touch”: rhythmic wall cadences of palpable plaster marked by his signature imprint and color. Following his death in 2024, Pinelli’s work has remained at the forefront of contemporary art, with recent solo exhibitions held in his honor, including: Omaggio a un amico at Lattuada Gallery, Milan (2026); Being a poet with a single word at Dep Art Gallery, Milan (2024); and Ceramiche at Dep Art Gallery, Milan (2023). Dedicated monographs continue to document and reflect on his practice, and his work is regularly featured in gallery exhibitions and art fair presentations.

A major moment in his later career was the 2018 multi-venue retrospective Pino Pinelli: Painting Beyond the Limit at Palazzo Reale—Gallerie d’Italia, Milan, which followed exhibitions at Museo delle Arti, Catanzaro (2017), and the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow (2016). The Palazzo Reale catalogue, edited by Francesco Tedeschi, addresses Pinelli’s contribution to contemporary art. A notable presentation of his work was also realized at Art Basel Unlimited (2021). His legacy is further sustained by the Pino Pinelli Foundation, which maintains his studio in Milan’s Brera district. His work is included in major museums and private collections in Italy and worldwide.

🖼 Pino Pinelli
Oro-Bianco, 2017
Third-fired ceramic, 2 elements
80 x 20 cm

02/07/2026

It was great to see so many art enthusiasts at On the Subject of Art—our final Dinner Party, in an Art-Critical Mode #4, last week!

Following the success of our evenings this spring, last Thursday brought the season to a close with a dinner party. Gathered around a shared table with a small group of guests, we explored Context, Concept, Coincidence, and Consequence in relation to art.

Before the summer holiday, you still have a chance to visit our current group show, Fragments, and discover great works by Pino Pinelli, Elsa Tomkowiak, Zhu Hong, and Sylvie Bonnot. TMH is open Friday & Saturday, 13:00-18:00.

Adres

Herengracht 254
Amsterdam
1016BV

Openingstijden

Vrijdag	13:00 - 18:00
Zaterdag	13:00 - 18:00

Telefoon

+31208455955

Website

http://www.merchanthouse.nl/

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