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.
Chris Elffers (Zandvoort, 1926 – Krimpen aan den IJssel, 2018) studied sculpture at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam with professors Mari Andriessen and Piet Esser. As a sculptor he contributed part-time to the restoration of the Laurenskerk. In 1958 he was given a studio on the Nesserdijk, where sculptor Huib Noorlander also had his workshop. Elffers made various sculptures for the public space in Rotterdam. He lived for years in Kralingen and Krimpen aan den IJssel, where he died in 2018.