WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Bas Jan Ader

Bas Jan Ader

Dutch, 1942

WA-00033309

Winschoten, Netherlands

InstallationConceptual ArtPhotographyPerformance Art

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

80%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (3)

WikidataQ2479548 ULAN500074847

MoMA

Field Verification (4 fields)

4 cross-verified · 0 single-source

BiographyMoMA· 93%✓
Birth yearMoMA· 93%✓
LocationMoMA· 93%✓
NationalityMoMA· 93%✓

Source Registry (1)

MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/32766
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Bas Jan Ader was a Dutch artist working in performance, video, and photography during the 1970s. His work centered on physical vulnerability and failure, often documenting himself falling, slipping, or struggling against gravity in deliberately staged scenarios. His performances were spare and deadpan, rejecting the spectacle of contemporaneous body art in favor of quiet, repetitive gestures that revealed the body's fragility and the artist's complicity in its own undoing. He disappeared at sea in 1975 during a solo yacht crossing, an ending that retrospectively complicated the relationship between his practice and his life.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 27d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Conceptual Art

Medium

Installation

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern ArtNew York Whitney Museum of American Art

Canonical record

Artworks (23)

WattsOS

Art & Project Bulletin #89

1975 · One from a set of 156 offset printed bulletins, exhibition copy

sheet (each): 11 5/8 x 16 9/16" (29.6 x 42 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Piet Niet

1974 · Gouache on paper

76.2 × 55.9 cm (30 × 22 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Piet Niet

1974 · Gouache on paper

76.2 × 55.9 cm (30 × 22 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Piet Niet

1974 · Gouache on paper

76.2 × 55.9 cm (30 × 22 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Piet Niet

1974 · Gouache on paper

76.2 × 55.9 cm (30 × 22 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Piet Niet

1974 · Gouache on paper

76.2 × 55.9 cm (30 × 22 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Piet Niet

1974 · Gouache on paper

76.2 × 55.9 cm (30 × 22 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Piet Niet

1974 · Gouache on paper

76.2 × 55.9 cm (30 × 22 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Piet Niet

1974 · Gouache on paper

76.2 × 55.9 cm (30 × 22 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled (In Search of the Miraculous)

1974 · Screenprint

composition (each): 18 7/8 x 18 1/8" (48 x 46.1 cm); sheet (each): 19 11/16 x 18 7/8" (50 x 48 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Study for I’m too sad to tell you

1971 · Gelatin silver print, three parts

Sheet (a,c): 7 1/8 × 5 in. (18.1 × 12.7 cm) Image (a,c): 6 3/4 × 4 3/4 in. (17.1 × 12.1 cm) Sheet (b): 5 × 7 1/8 in. (12.7 × 18.1 cm) Image (b): 4 3/4 × 6 3/4 in. (12.1 × 17.1 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

Pitfall On the Way To a New Neo-Plasticism, Westkapelle, Holland

1971 · Chromogenic print

16 1/4 × 11 1/2" (41.3 × 29.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Broke Fall (Geometric)

1971 · Chromogenic print

16 1/4 × 11 1/2" (41.3 × 29.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Art & Project Bulletin #44

1971 · One from a set of 156 offset printed bulletins, exhibition copy

sheet (each): 11 5/8 x 16 9/16" (29.6 x 42 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Landslide, no. 7

1970 · 11 mimeographed stapled sheets in envelope

overall (.a, closed): 8 1/2 × 11" (21.6 × 27.9 cm); overall (.b): 8 3/4 × 11 1/4" (22.2 × 28.6 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Landslide, no. 5

1970 · Publication with acetate cover and mimeographed letter in envelope

overall (.a, closed): 8 1/2 × 7" (21.6 × 17.8 cm); sheet (.b): 9 × 7 3/4" (22.9 × 19.7 cm); overall (.c): 9 × 7" (22.9 × 17.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

I'm Too Sad to Tell You

1970 · Gelatin silver print

10 7/8 × 14" (27.7 × 35.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Landslide

1969 · Set of seven periodicals and three prints

composition and sheet (see child records): dimensions vary

Museum of Modern Art

Landslide, bonus issue

1969 · Mimeograph on Styrofoam sheet and mimeographed letter in envelope

sheet (.a): 9 × 8 1/2" (22.9 × 21.6 cm); sheet (.b): 8 3/4 × 8 1/2" (22.2 × 21.6 cm); overall (.c): 11 1/2 × 9" (29.2 × 22.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Landslide, no. 2

1969 · Four sheets (two mimeographed, one punctured, one blank) in acetate sleeve, five mimeographed stapled sheets (with sticker addition on cover), and mimeographed letter in envelope

sheet (.a-e): 11 1/4 × 8 3/4" (28.6 × 22.2 cm); sheet (.f): 11 × 8 1/2" (27.9 × 21.6 cm); overall (.g): 12 × 9" (30.5 × 22.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Landslide, no. 1

1969 · Eight mimeographed sheets (including cover) in acetate sleeve with mimeographed letter in envelope

sheet (.a-h): 11 3/4 × 9" (29.8 × 22.9 cm); sheet (.i): 9 1/2 × 8 1/2" (24.1 × 21.6 cm); overall (.j): 12 × 9" (30.5 × 22.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Landslide, no. 3

1969 · Mimeographed card and pieces of Styrofoam in envelope

sheet (.a): 5 × 7" (12.7 × 17.8 cm); other (.b): 3 1/2 × 4 × 13/16" (8.9 × 10.2 × 2 cm); sheet (.c): 5 1/4 × 7 1/4" (13.3 × 18.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Landslide, no. 4

1969 · Mimeographed publication with cardboard cover and acetate sleeve in envelope

overall (.a, closed): 8 3/4 × 7" (22.2 × 17.8 cm); overall (.b): 8 15/16 × 7 1/2" (22.7 × 19.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

View all 23 artworks →

Artwork sources (3)

23 published of 37 catalogued · 30 with image

MoMA
14 publishedof 28 catalogued22 img
Art Institute Chicago
8 published8 img
Whitney
1 published

Record

Images

Artsy

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

Movements3

Conceptual Art Photography Performance Art

Collections3

Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern Art Whitney Museum of American Art

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Whitney Museum of American Art

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

No exhibitions or timeline entries yet