The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam.[ Museumplein , I Amsterdam. Retrieved 4 April 2013.]
The Rijksmuseum was founded in The Hague on 19 November 1798 and moved to Amsterdam in 1808, where it was first located in the Royal Palace and later in the Trippenhuis.[ The renovation, Rijksmuseum. Retrieved on 4 April 2013.] On 13 April 2013, after a ten-year renovation which cost euro375 million, the main building was reopened by Queen Beatrix.[ "Rijksmuseum set for grand reopening in Amsterdam". BBC News. 4 April 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2013.][ "The Rijksmuseum reopens: A new golden age". The Economist (London). 13 April 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2013.][ Jaarverslag 2014 (in Dutch), Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 23 January 2017.][ Jaarverslag 2013 (in Dutch), Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 23 January 2017.] It is also the largest art museum in the country.
The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000, among which are some masterpieces by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Johannes Vermeer. The museum also has a small collection, which is on display in the Asian pavilion.
History
The collection of the Rijksmuseum was built over a period of 200 years and did not originate from a royal collection incorporated into a national museum. Its origins were modest, with its collection fitting into five rooms at the Huis ten Bosch palace in The Hague. Although the seventeenth century was beginning to be recognized as the key period in Dutch art, the museum did not then hold paintings by Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Johannes Vermeer, or Jacob van Ruisdael. The collection was built up by purchase and donation. Napoleon had carried off the stadholder's collection to Paris; the paintings were returned to The Netherlands in 1815 but housed in the
Mauritshuis in The Hague rather than the Rijksmuseum. With the founding of the Rijksmuseum in 1885, holdings from other entities were brought together to establish the Rijksmuseum's major collections.
["The changing picture of art of the Golden Age in the Rijksmuseum" in Netherlandish Art, 1600–1700. New Haven: Yale University Press 2000, 268–71]
18th century
In 1795, the Batavian Republic was proclaimed; its Minister of Finance
Alexander Gogel argued that a national museum, following the French example of
The Louvre, would serve the national interest. On 19 November 1798, the government decided to found the museum.
[ Roelof van Gelder, Schatkamer met veel gezichten, 2000. Retrieved 15 April 2013.]
19th century
On 31 May 1800, the National Art Gallery (
Dutch language:
Nationale Kunst-Galerij), precursor of the Rijksmuseum, opened in Huis ten Bosch in
The Hague. The museum exhibited around 200 paintings and historic objects from the collections of the Dutch
.
In 1805, the National Art Gallery moved within
The Hague to the Prince William V Gallery, on the Buitenhof.
In 1806, the Kingdom of Holland was established by
Napoleon Bonaparte. On the orders of king
Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, the museum moved to
Amsterdam in 1808. Paintings owned by that city, such as
The Night Watch by Rembrandt, became part of the collection. In 1809, the museum opened in the Royal Palace in
Amsterdam.
In 1817, the museum moved to the Trippenhuis. The Trippenhuis turned out to be unsuitable as a museum. In 1820, the historical objects were moved to the Mauritshuis in The Hague and in 1838, the 19th-century paintings " of living masters" were moved to King Louis Bonaparte's former summer palace Paviljoen Welgelegen in Haarlem.
In 1863, there was a design contest for a new building for the Rijksmuseum, but none of the submissions was considered to be of sufficient quality. Pierre Cuypers also participated in the contest and his submission reached the second place.
In 1876, a new contest was held and this time Pierre Cuypers won. The design was a combination of gothic and renaissance elements. The construction began on 1 October 1876. On both the inside and the outside, the building was richly decorated with references to Dutch art history. Another contest was held for these decorations. The winners were B. van Hove and for the , for the and painting and W.F. Dixon for the stained glass. The museum was opened at its new location on 13 July 1885.
In 1890, a new building was added a short distance to the south-west of the Rijksmuseum. As the building was made out of fragments of demolished buildings, the building offers an overview of the history of Dutch architecture and has come to be known informally as the 'fragment building'. It is also known as the 'south wing' and is currently (in 2013) branded the Philips Wing.
20th century
In 1906, the hall for
The Night Watch was rebuilt.
In the interior more changes were made between the 1920s and 1950s – most multi-coloured wall decorations were painted over. In the 1960s exposition rooms and several floors were built into the two courtyards. The building had some minor renovations and restorations in 1984, 1995–1996 and 2000.
A renovation of the south wing of the museum, also known as the 'fragment building' or 'Philips Wing', was completed in 1996, the same year that the museum held its first major photography exhibition featuring its extensive collection of 19th-century photos.[ A new art: photography in the 19th century. The photo collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, edited by curators Mattie Boom and Hans Rooseboom, preface by Peter Schatborn and Ronald de Leeuw, essays by Jan Piet Filedt Kok, Mattie Boom, Hans Rosenboom, Robbert van Venetie, Hedi Hegeman, Andreas Blühm, Saskia Asser and Annet Zondervan, Rijksmuseum & Van Gogh Museum, 1996, ]
21st century
In December 2003, the main building of the museum closed for a major renovation. During this renovation, about 400 objects from the collection were on display in the 'fragment building', including
Rembrandt's
The Night Watch and other 17th-century masterpieces.
The restoration and renovation of the Rijksmuseum are based on a design by Spanish architects Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz. Many of the old interior decorations were restored and the floors in the courtyards were removed. The renovation would have initially taken five years, but was delayed and eventually took almost ten years to complete. The renovation cost euro375 million.
The reconstruction of the building was completed on 16 July 2012. In March 2013, the museum's main pieces of art were moved back from the 'fragment building' (Philips Wing) to the main building. The Night Watch returned to the Night Watch Room, at the end of the Hall of Fame. On 13 April 2013, the main building was reopened by Queen Beatrix.
In 2025, the Rijksmuseum announced plans to partner with the municipality of Eindhoven to build a satellite branch in Eindhoven; the branch will show works from the Rijksmuseum’s collection.[Anne Doran (11 December 2025), Rijksmuseum and Municipality of Eindhoven Will Partner on a New Museum ARTnews.]
On 13 January 2026, the Rijksmuseum announced plans for a new sculpture garden with three pavilions and works by Henry Moore, Alberto Giacometti, and Louise Bourgeois, among others. The new garden will be funded by the Don Quixote Foundation, as well as providing long-term loans of works for the garden. The museum hopes it will open in autumn 2026.
List of directors
-
Cornelis Sebille Roos
-
Cornelis Apostool (1808–1844)
-
Jan Willem Pieneman (1844–1847)
[ Jan Willem Pieneman Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 25 June 2023.]
-
(1873–1883)
-
Frederik Daniël Otto Obreen (1883–1896)
[ Frederik Daniël Otto Obreen (1840–96) , Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 2 May 2013.]
-
Barthold Willem Floris van Riemsdijk (1897–1921)
[ Jonkheer Barthold Willem Floris van Riemsdijk (1850–1942) , Geheugen van Nederland. Retrieved 25 April 2013.]
-
Frederik Schmidt-Degener (1921–1941)
[ A.A.M. de Jong, Schmidt Degener, Frederik (1881–1941), Historici.nl, 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2013.]
-
David Röell (1945–1959)
[ Th.J. Meijer, Röell, jhr. David Cornelis (1894–1961), Historici.nl, 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2013.]
-
Arthur F.E. van Schendel (1959–1975)
[ Lucette ter Borg, " Gedonderjaag in het Rijksmuseum", de Volkskrant, 2000. Retrieved 25 April 2013.]
-
Simon Levie (1975–1989)
-
Henk van Os (1989–1996)
-
Ronald de Leeuw (1996–2008)
-
Wim Pijbes (2008–2016)
[Charlotte Higgins (5 April 2013). "Rijksmuseum to reopen after dazzling refurbishment and rethink". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 25 April 2013.]
-
Taco Dibbits (2016–present)
Building
The building of the Rijksmuseum was designed by
Pierre Cuypers and opened in 1885. It consists of two squares with an atrium in each centre. In the central axis is a tunnel with the entrances at ground level and the Gallery of Honour at the first floor. The building also contains a library. The fragment building, branded Philips wing, contains building fragments that show the history of architecture in the Netherlands. The Rijksmuseum is a
rijksmonument (national heritage site) since 1970
[ Monumentnummer: 5680, Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed. Retrieved on 6 March 2014.] and was listed in the Top 100 Dutch heritage sites in 1990. The Asian pavilion was designed by Cruz y Ortiz and opened in 2013.
According to Muriel Huisman, Project Architect for the Rijksmuseum's renovation, "Cruz y Ortiz always like to look for synergy between old and new, and we try not to explain things with our architecture". With the Rijks, "there’s no cut between old and new; we’ve tried to merge it. We did this by looking for materials that were true to the original building, resulting in a kind of silent architecture."
between 1817 and 1885.]]
in 1876.]]
Collection
The collection of the Rijksmuseum consists of 1 million objects and is dedicated to
arts,
crafts, and
history from the years 1200 to 2000. Around 8,000 objects are currently on display in the museum.
The collection contains more than 2,000 from the Dutch Golden Age by notable painters such as Jacob van Ruisdael, Frans Hals, Johannes Vermeer, Jan Steen, Rembrandt, and Rembrandt's pupils.
The museum also has a small Asian collection which is on display in the Asian pavilion.
Some of the more unusual items in the collection include the royal crest from the stern of which was captured in the Raid on the Medway, the Hartog plate and the FK35 Bantam biplane.
In 2012,[ Rijkstudio promotes and enables the reuse of the Rijksmuseum collection.] with plans to add another 40,000 images per year until the entire collection of one million works is available, according to Taco Dibbits, director of collections.
Gallery
File:William I, Prince of Orange by Adriaen Thomasz. Key Rijksmuseum Amsterdam SK-A-3148.jpg| Portrait of William of Orange (1579) by Adriaen Thomasz Key
File:Company of Captain Rosecrans Ketel.jpg| The Company of Captain Dirck Jacobsz Rosecrans and Lieutenant Pauw (1588) by Cornelis Ketel
File:Frans Hals - Portret van een stel in een landschap - Google Art Project.jpg| Portrait of a Young Couple (1622) by Frans Hals
File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn - Jeremia treurend over de verwoesting van Jeruzalem - Google Art Project.jpg| Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem (1630) by Rembrandt
File:Frans Hals, De magere compagnie.jpg| Meagre Company (1633–37) by Frans Hals and Pieter Codde
File:Officieren en andere schutters van wijk XIX in Amsterdam onder leiding van kapitein Cornelis Bicker en luitenant Frederick van Banchem, gereed voor de ontvangst van Maria de’ Medici, Rijksmuseum SK-C-393.jpeg| Company of captain Cornelis Bicker and lieutenant Frederick van Banchem, ready to receive Maria de' Medici , queen-mother of France, in September 1638 (1640) by Joachim von Sandrart
File:La ronda de noche, por Rembrandt van Rijn.jpg| The Night Watch (1642) by Rembrandt
File:Officieren en andere schutters van wijk XVIII in Amsterdam onder leiding van kapitein Albert Bas en luitenant Lucas Conijn Rijksmuseum SK-C-371.jpeg| The Company of Captain Albert Bas and Lieutenant Lucas Conijn (1645) by Govert Flinck
File:Bartholomeus van der Helst, Banquet of the Amsterdam Civic Guard in Celebration of the Peace of Münster.jpg| Banquet at the Crossbowmen’s Guild in Celebration of the Treaty of Münster (1648) by Bartholomeus van der Helst
File:Jan Asselijn - De bedreigde zwaan; later opgevat als allegorie op Johan de Witt - Google Art Project.jpg| The Threatened Swan ( 1650) by Jan Asselijn
File:Johannes Vermeer - Het melkmeisje - Google Art Project.jpg| The Milkmaid ( 1657–58) by Johannes Vermeer
File:Rembrandt - De Staalmeesters- het college van staalmeesters (waardijns) van het Amsterdamse lakenbereidersgilde - Google Art Project.jpg| Syndics of the Drapers' Guild (1662) by Rembrandt
File:Cornelis Evertsen, luitenant-admiraal van Zeeland, 1662.jpg|Portrait of Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest, Lieutenant Admiral of Zeeland (1662) by Nicolaes Maes
File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn - Portret van een paar als Oud-Testamentische figuren, genaamd 'Het Joodse bruidje' - Google Art Project.jpg| The Jewish Bride ( 1667) by Rembrandt
File:Portret van een meisje in het blauw Rijksmuseum SK-A-3064.jpeg| Girl in a Blue Dress (1641) by Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck
File:Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael - Landschap met waterval - Google Art Project.jpg| Landscape with Waterfall (1660s) by Jacob van Ruisdael
File:Hieronymus van Beverningk Rijksmuseum SK-A-963.jpeg| Portrait of Hieronymus van Beverningk (1670) by Jan de Baen
File:1670 Jan Havicksz. Steen - zelfportret.jpg| Self-portrait (c. 1670) by Jan Steen
File:Shivaji Rijksmuseum.jpg|Shivaji's portrait (1680s) in the Rijksmuseum (1630–80)
File:Cornelis Troost - De inspecteurs van het Collegium Medicum - SA 7411 - Amsterdam Museum.jpg| The inspectors of the Collegium Medicum in Amsterdam (1724) by Cornelis Troost
File:Portret van Willem I, koning der Nederlanden Rijksmuseum SK-C-1460.jpeg| Portrait of William I , King of the Netherlands (1819) by Joseph Paelinck
File:Portret van Don Ramón Satué Rijksmuseum SK-A-2963.jpeg| Portrait of Don Ramón Satué (1823) by Francisco Goya
File:De Slag bij Waterloo Rijksmuseum SK-A-1115.jpeg| The Battle of Waterloo (1824) by Jan Willem Pieneman
Special exhibitions
Rembrandt
In 2019, to mark the 350th anniversary of the artist's death, the museum mounted an exhibition of all the works by Rembrandt in its collection. Consisting of 22 paintings, 60 drawings and over 300 prints, this was the first time they had all been exhibited together. Principal features were the marriage portraits of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit along with the presentation of the
Night Watch immediately before its planned restoration. The exhibition ran from February to June.
Slavery in the Dutch Empire
After previous temporary exhibitions on art historical themes, the Rijksmuseum in 2021 presented an exhibition on the history of
slavery in the Dutch colonial empire, focusing on the more than 1.6 million people who were enslaved by Dutch slave traders.
It covered trans-Atlantic slavery from the 17th to the 19th century in
Suriname, Brazil and the Caribbean, as well as Dutch colonial slavery in South Africa and Asia, where the Dutch West India Company (WIC) and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) were engaged in slavery. Besides objects, such as a wooden block for locking slaves, paintings, archival documents, oral sources, poems and music, the exhibition also presented connections of the slavery system at home in the Netherlands.
In the permanent collection, labels were added to 77 paintings and objects that had been seen as symbols of the country's wealth and power to indicate previously hidden links to slavery.
The exhibition was presented both physically in the museum from May to August 2021 and in an online version.
Vermeer
Between 10 February and 4 June 2023 the Rijksmuseum held the largest exhibition of Vermeer works
, with 28 of the known 37 works on display. Curator
Pieter Roelofs called it a "once in a lifetime" event.
The exhibition was attended by a record 650,000 visitors
.
Number of visitors
|
1,412,000[ Openingsjaar Rijksmuseum breek alle records , Rijksmuseum, 2013. Retrieved on 2013-12-27.] | 1,146,438[ Jaarverslag 2001, Rijksmuseum, 2002. Retrieved 25 April 2013.] | 896,393 | 2020 | 675,325 |
|
1,216,103 | 1,100,488[ Jaarverslag 2003, Rijksmuseum, 2004. Retrieved 25 April 2013.] | 894,058[ Jaarverslag 2012 (in Dutch), Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 23 January 2017.] | | |
936,400[ " Museumbezoek in 1993 sterk gedaald", NRC Handelsblad, 1994. Retrieved 21 November 2016.] | 833,450 | 2,246,122 | | |
1,002,000[ " Nieuwe musea hadden in 1995 een goede start", de Volkskrant, 1996. Retrieved 21 November 2016.] | 812,102[ Jaarverslag 2005, Rijksmuseum, 2006. Retrieved 25 April 2013.] | 2,474,352 | | |
942,000[ " Grote musea trokken in 1995 minder bezoekers", Trouw, 1996. Retrieved 21 November 2016.] | 842,586 | 2,345,666[ Jaarverslag 2015 (in Dutch), Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 23 January 2017.] | | |
1,275,000[ Rijksmuseum en Kunsthal trekken veel bezoekers, de Volkskrant, 1997. Retrieved 25 April 2013.] | 1,142,182[ Jaarverslag 2011, Rijksmuseum, 2012. Retrieved on 25 April 2013.] | 2,200,000 (est.)[ Jasper Piersma, " Van Gogh Museum zit Rijks op de hielen als populairste museum", Het Parool, 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.] | | |
1,084,652[ Jaarverslag 1998, Rijksmuseum, 1999. Retrieved 25 April 2013.] | 969,561 | 2017 | | | |
1,229,445[ Jaarverslag 1999, Rijksmuseum, 2000. Retrieved 25 April 2013.] | 975,977 | 2018 | | | |
1,310,497 | 876,453 | 2019 | | | |
The 20th-century visitor record of 1,412,000 was reached in the year 1975.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Rijksmuseum was annually visited by 0.9 to 1.3 million people. On 7 December 2003, the main building of the museum was closed for a renovation until 13 April 2013. In the preceding decade, the number of visitors had slightly decreased to 0.8 to 1.1 million people. The museum says after the renovation, the museum's capacity is 1.5 to 2.0 million visitors annually.[ Rijksmuseum welcomes two millionth visitor (press release), Rijksmuseum, 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2013.]
The museum had 2.2 million visitors in 2013 and reached an all-time record of 2.47 million visitors in 2014.[ Claudia Kammer & Daan van Lent, " Musea trokken dit jaar opnieuw meer bezoekers", NRC Handelsblad, 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2015.][ Top 100 Art Museum Attendance, The Art Newspaper, 2015. Retrieved on 18 July 2015.][ Top 100 Art Museum Attendance, The Art Newspaper, 2014. Retrieved on 28 June 2014.]
The COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of the museum from 15 December 2020, until 4 June 2021.
Library
The Rijksmuseum Research Library is part of the Rijksmuseum, and is the best and the largest public
art history research library in The Netherlands.
Restaurant
Rijks, stylized as RIJKS®, is a restaurant with 140 seats in the Philips Wing.
[Brooke Bobb, " Go for the Art, Stay for the Food: The 7 Best Museum Restaurants Around the World ", Vogue, 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2017.] Joris Bijdendijk has been the chef de cuisine since the opening in 2014.
[" Joris Bijdendijk verantwoordelijk voor nieuwe restaurant Rijksmuseum", Het Parool, 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2017.] The restaurant was awarded a
Michelin star in 2017.
[" Michelinster voor Amsterdamse restaurants Rijks, Bolenius en Mos", Het Parool, 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2017.]
See also
-
Onze Kunst van Heden – exhibition held in the winter of 1939 through 1940
-
List of largest art museums
Notes
Further reading
-
Netherlandish Art in the Rijksmuseum, 1400–1600. W Books 2000.
-
Netherlandish Art in the Rijksmuseum, 1600–1700. New Haven: Yale University Press 2000.
-
Netherlandish Art in the Rijksmuseum, 1700–1800. Waanders 2006.
External links
