Bears one another's burdens (1961) Chris Elffers

This artwork by artist Chris Elffers consists of five facing bricks with the title Bears one another's burdens. It shows a very adequate representation of the theme of 'caring'. Dijkzigt Hospital was one of the first buildings in Rotterdam to benefit from the city council's decision to spend a certain percentage of the building sum on artistic embellishment (the percentage scheme). When the commissioning of Dijkzigt came up for discussion, a number of city councilors insisted that works of art should not only be understandable to the Art Affairs Committee, but also to the ordinary citizen of Rotterdam. These facing bricks are beautifully decorative and hung loose above the forward entrance of the former hospital. They express what the sister house was all about, namely caring for the sick and weak. This work belongs together with Children grieving from Adri Blok and The Good Samaritan from Han Wezelaar to the art collection of the Erasmus Medical Center (EMC). Due to the demolition of the Dijkzigt hospital, the work was temporarily placed in storage. Bears one another's burdens was relocated by the EMC at the end of 2021 and is now hanging at entrance number 3.