ROTTERDAM.- Francesco Stocchi, curator of modern and contemporary art at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, is bidding farewell to the museum. He has been appointed artistic director of MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts, in Rome.

Stocchi joined Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen on 1 January 2012 and since then has played a major role in the exhibition programme and collections policy, contributing greatly to the museum’s international reputation. Exhibitions to which he contributed include Brancusi, Rosso, Man Ray – Framing Sculpture (2014), Richard Serra – Drawings 2015-2017 (2017), Gelatin: Vorm – Fellows – Attitude (2018) and the acclaimed socially distanced exhibition Boijmans Ahoy Drive-Thru Museum (2021) in Rotterdam Ahoy during the pandemic.

He curated several editions of the Sensory Spaces programme and was one of the founders of the new, multi-year programme Le Miroir Vivant, which recently had its first edition in Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen with artist Neo Muyanga. As a curator, he deepened the museum’s existing relationships with artists such as Cyprien Gaillard, Richard Serra, Peter Struycken and also with Co Westerik in the last years of his life and career.

Stocchi has a great passion for Minimalism. His exhibition Minimal Myth (2012) combined 1960s and 1970s masterpieces from the museum’s collection with contemporary works by artists such as Lydia Gifford and Monika Sonoswka. He enriched the museum’s collection of Minimalist art with new works by, among others, Raphael Hefti and Oscar Tuazon.

The director and staff of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen extend their thanks to Stocchi for the sterling work he has done for the museum. We wish him good luck in Rome.