Ernst van Alphen

Ernst van Alphen (born 1958) is a Dutch art historian and cultural theorist whose scholarship focuses on the relationship between art, trauma, memory and representation. Professor of Literary Studies at Leiden University, his books include Francis Bacon and the Loss of Self (1992), Caught by History: Holocaust Effects in Contemporary Art, Literature and Theory (1997) and Armando: Shaping Memory (2000). He has written extensively on artists including Marlene Dumas, Gerhard Richter and Christian Boltanski, and contributed texts to numerous international exhibition catalogues.

  • Armando et al., De Schoonheid van het Kwaad, Amersfoort, 2001, front cover, pale blue sky, white smoke plume rising, participant names listed in white De Schoonheid van het Kwaad, 2001, interior spread, Thomas Ruff Nacht 14 II 1994 and Andres Serrano Bodybuilders, bilingual text

    ARMANDO, The Beauty of Evil / De Schoonheid van het Kwaad, Armando Museum / De Zonnehof, Amersfoort, 2001

    ARMANDO, The Beauty of Evil / De Schoonheid van het Kwaad, Armando Museum / De Zonnehof, Amersfoort, 2001