In a city filled with graffiti, Amsterdam is the perfect setting for a museum dedicated to street art. STRAAT, which opened in October 2020, showcases the work of street artists from around the world, each represented by a large-scale work, many of them created on site. Housed in an 86,000-plus-square-foot former welding warehouse on the NDSM wharf, the museum offers a stunning survey of the history, past and ongoing, of the people’s art.
Does the museum setting take away from the street feel of these works? Yes, and no. Encountered on a wall somewhere or seen on a passing train, graffiti is charged with an outlaw art vibe as well as the recognition that its existence may be fleeting, washed away or painted over. At STRAAT, each work has a permanence, a finished quality, yet the industrial setting helps connect it to the rougher edges of the outside world.
Here is a selection of the large-scale works at STRAAT as viewed during a visit this past April.
The graffiti start near the ticket desk, by way of a wonderful vignette by The London Police painted directly on the wall (photo: Carl Little).
A squid called Sebastian, Hunter—Hunted, spray and latex paint on polyester, 2017. The Belgian artist explains: “The character wears a mask on the back of his head, which was done by lumberjacks in India to protect themselves from tigers. But this obviously does not protect one from arrows in the back.” (photo: Carl Little).
Collin van der Sluijs, Watercolor XL, latex on polyester, 2023. Van der Sluijs lives in Maastricht where he cycles around making watercolor studies of nature (photo: Carl Little).
Erwtje, Alley Cat, acrylic paint on polyester, 2022. The Dutch artist specializes in paintings of tagged trains (photo: Carl Little).
ELLE, Girl with a Pearl Earring: Contemporary AI Remix, spray paint on polyester, 2023. Once an underground New York City graffiti artist, ELLE now does imaging in the corporate world, including projects for Samsung, the Norwegian Cruise Line, Kohler, and Toyota (photo: Carl Little).
Hugo Kaagman, Untitled, spray paint on metal, 2013. Another send-up of an iconic Dutch painting, this time Rembrandt’s Night Watch. In the late 1970s, Kaagman pioneered stencil art “beyond mere text,” earning him the title “stencil king” (photo: Carl Little).
INO, Available 4 Rent, spray and latex paint on polyester, 2018. The Greek artist references Amsterdam’s Red Light District. According to the museum label, the artist chose to focus on the buttocks of one of the prostitutes as a way to call out “their never-ending story” (photo: Carl Little).
Jaque Fragua, Mobilize, spray, acrylic, and oil paint on canvas, 2023. Fragua is an indigenous artist from Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico. He has used the Mobil icon “as an appropriation of an appropriation” (photo: Carl Little).
Luca Ledda, Humans Kill Volume 2, acrylic paint on polyester, 2022. This Italian artist based in Turin focuses on climate change (photo: Carl Little).
Miss Van, Muses, acrylic on polyester, 2024. Originally from Toulouse, this world-traveling artist is known for her “feminine” art (photo: Carl Little).
Osch, David vs. Goliath, spray paint on polyester, 2016. One of the Chilean-born, London-based artist’s Orbs, a sunset painting with an anti-war message (photo: Carl Little).
Saïd Kinos, Alone/Together, latex paint and oil stick on polyester, 2024. Based in the Netherlands, Kinos slows down communication by arranging letters in a manner that requires time to decipher. His two-part Alone/Together presents what is thought to be an African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” His “fragmented typography” reminded me of some of Ryan Adams’s mural work (photos: Carl Little).
Shepard Fairey, Desert Today Ocean Tomorrow, mixed media, 2023. This piece revisits some of Fairey’s 1990s work, including the André the Giant has a Posse sticker and elements of his environmental “artivism” (photo: Carl Little).
View of the museum from balcony (photo: Carl Little).
Another view of the museum from balcony (photo: Carl Little).
Straat gift shop. In addition to catalogues and other items, the shop sells spray paint. While perusing these offerings I watched a young man in a hoody buy several cans—a future alley cat (photo: Carl Little).
P.S. If you’re looking for graffiti closer to home, check out Jeff Bye’s show “Frayed Edges” at Cove Street Arts in Portland, Maine, through 12 July 2025. Many of Bye’s paintings capture the tagged world in all its vibrancy.
The STRAAT’s collection is viewable on its website.
Image at top: The façade of the museum features Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra’s Let Me Be Myself (Anne Frank), 2016 (photo: Carl Little).