Social Issues

Amsterdam: The Sixties

The daily life of the people in the city and the suburbs of Amsterdam in the 1960s captured by American photographer Leonard Freed

Leonard Freed

Leonard Freed Bicycles in the snow. Near Central Station, Amsterdam. 1964. © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos
Leonard Freed Winter in Holland. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1964. © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos
Leonard Freed Summer playground for young and old. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1964. © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos
Leonard Freed Artist Shinkichi Tajiri at home in his castle. Netherlands, 1966. © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos
Leonard Freed Children playing. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1964. © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos
Leonard Freed Three figures on mopeds. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1964. © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos
Leonard Freed Rijksmuseum entrance. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1964. © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos
Leonard Freed Farmer's market near Geuzenveld. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1964. © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos
Leonard Freed Winter scene. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1964. © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos
Leonard Freed A Dutch painting goes into the Stedelijk Museum. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1958. © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos
Leonard Freed Elke Susannah Freed drying her hair. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1964. © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos
Leonard Freed Provo leader planning their next move. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1964. © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos
Leonard Freed Waiting at the airport. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1964. © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos
Leonard Freed Art auction house. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1964. © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos
Leonard Freed University students giving a public speech. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 1958. © Leonard Freed | Magnum Photos

During the 1950s and 1960s, the photographer Leonard Freed resided and worked in Amsterdam. He photographed the daily life of the people in the city and the suburbs, recording the ordinary, everyday face of Amsterdam at a time that was so ordinary that eternity seemed to be anchored in it. He documented the latter three-quarters of the fifties and the beginning of the next decade, before the sixties were known as ‘The Sixties’ and long before they had any historical allure. In Amsterdam: The Sixties, Freed unconsciously paints a portrait of innocence and decadence, of artists, of the royal family, and of the hard working post-war population of Holland.

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