Rotterdam museum covers its floor with 390 kg of peanut butter

Art or waste: 390 kilos of peanut butter in a Rotterdam museum

Twenty-five square metres of floor covered in a layer of peanut butter. It is not a catering accident: it is the latest stunt by Rotterdam's Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, which has spread 390 kilos of peanut butter across its ground floor. The amount, according to the museum, is enough for around 15,000 slices of toast.

The installation pays tribute to the Dutch artist Wim T. Schippers, who died in June 2026 at the age of 83. His work 'Pindakaasvloer' — literally, 'peanut butter floor' — was conceived in 1962 and first exhibited in 1969. More than half a century later, the joke still works. And the museum asks visitors to keep their distance. Predictably, so as not to leave footprints.

Conceptual art or food thrown in the bin?

The gesture leaves no one indifferent. Some see in this piece the perfect expression of the banality of postmodern art: 'absolute nothingness in the shape of nonsense'. Others, more prosaic, point out that this is food that could feed many people, and there is no shortage of those predicting an ant invasion or joking that the cleaning staff must be 'delighted' with the assignment.

The work required forty buckets of peanut butter and twenty instructions on 'how to make nothing', according to the museum's description. The critics are clear: it is random modern art, nonsense with pretensions. The defenders, on the other hand, stress that it is a historic piece of Dutch conceptual art, with a pedigree going back to the sixties.

The legacy of Wim T. Schippers

Schippers, who died just a few months ago, was a born provocateur. His 'peanut butter floor' is one of the most memorable works of the Dutch conceptual movement. The question is whether the provocation still holds up half a century later or whether, as the sceptics argue, all that remains is an empty gesture.

With 390 kilos on the floor, the museum has achieved what few exhibitions manage: getting people to talk about art, even if only to insult it. The next time someone spreads toast, they may think of Rotterdam. And of the ants.