Rotterdam museum spreads 800 lb peanut butter floor for Schippers

A museum in Rotterdam has recreated a conceptual artwork by spreading more than 800 pounds of smooth peanut butter across a gallery floor as a tribute to the late Dutch artist Wim T. Schippers. The installation, known as "Pindakaasvloer" or "Peanut Butter Floor," opened to the public on Friday, July 10, 2026, at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen's Depot building and will remain on view through September 6.

Schippers, a conceptual artist and television personality who voiced characters on the Dutch version of Sesame Street, died on June 10, 2026, at age 83. He first created the Peanut Butter Floor in 1969 as part of a series of floor installations that also included works made from glass shards and salt. The museum described the piece as a fitting tribute to Schippers' irreverent and absurdist perspective, intended to provoke questions like "Is this art?" and "Am I allowed to find this beautiful?"

To execute the work, two museum employees, referred to as "peanut butter plasterers," spent two days last week applying 40 buckets of donated Calvé brand peanut butter. Using plastering tools, they spread the peanut butter into a precise 25-square-meter hexagon, achieving a uniform...