Amsterdam for Art Lovers

If you are an art lover, Amsterdam will satisfy your art cravings. With the Rijksmuseum – one of the most renowned museums in the world, and the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam is a must visit in Europe for every art lover. Beside these two major ones, Amsterdam boasts many other less popular, but absolutely worth visiting art museums, like the Hermitage or MOCO. In this guide to the best art museums in Amsterdam, you will find useful tips about how to beat the crowds, as well as the best times to visit the museums.

Before you venture on your art expedition in Amsterdam, you should be aware that you can’t visit all museum in one day. You can visit a maximum of two museums per day, not only because you won’t have time, but because you need time to process the art, to enjoy it, to reflect on it, and not just run through the museum and consume it.

I’ve visited all of the museums many times through the years that I’ve been living now in the Netherlands, and I’ve never been tired of revisiting the Rijksmuseum – each time I find something new, something that has escaped my attention before.

Read more: One day in Amsterdam – Itinerary for First Time Visitors

Most of the art museums in the Dutch capital are clustered in the so-called Museum Quarter (Museumkwartier) on Museum Square (Museumplein), which is super convenient. Here you will find: Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Stedelijk Museum and MOCO Museum. Just don’t try visiting all of them in one day!

When I was writing this post and selecting the best art museums in Amsterdam, I came across websites on the internet that include museums like Anne Fran House, or the EYE Museum. Let’s put this right, these aren’t art museums, and although they are among Amsterdam’s best visited attractions, they don’t have a place in an overview with best museums in Amsterdam for art.

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Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum, or the Rijks, the way the Dutch lovingly refer to it, is undoubtedly the jewel in the crown. Not only has the museum an amazing collection, but also the building itself is an architectural chef-d’oevre. Designed by the famous Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers, it’s an excellent example of Revival Architecture with Gothic and Renaissance elements.

The Rijksmuseum (Dutch National Museum) was established in 1800 and back in the day it was called National Art Gallery and was housed in Huis ten Bosch (a royal palace today) in The Hague.

The centerpiece of the Rijksmuseum is certainly the world-famous painting of Rembrandt – the Night Watch (De Nachtwacht). And indeed Rembrandt’s masterpiece is impressive not only with the masterful use of light and shadow (what actually is the signature technique of the Dutch painter) but also with its dimensions (363 cm x 437 cm / 12 ft x 14,3 ft).

Other famous paintings exhibited in the Rijksmuseum include masterpieces of Rembrandt, like a few self-portraits and Isaac and Rebecca (The Jewish Bride), as well as masterpieces of Johannes Vermeer (The Milkmaid, Woman Reading a Letter, The Love Letter), Hendrik Averkamp, Frans Hals, Van Gogh, and many others.

The Rijksmuseum takes you on a journey through the ages. 800 years of Dutch history and art, from the Middle Ages to Mondrian, is told in 8000 objects, displayed in 80 galleries. The collection of the Rijksmuseum is simply stunning and this is one of the reasons why it’s a world-class museum.

Van Gogh Museum

Dedicated to the life and work of the greatest Dutch artist, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is a must-see for all visitors of the city. There you can see the biggest collection of the artist’s works: more than 200 paintings, 500 drawings and almost all of his letters. In the museum you can admire his world-famous Sunflowers, Irises, The Bedroom, Almond Blossom, The Sower, and the list goes on.

The collection of the Van Gogh Museum is actually the private collection of Vincent van Gogh’s family. After Vincent van Gogh passed away, his paintings were managed by his brother Theo van Gogh and later by the Theo’s son and Vincent’s nephew – Vincent Willem. In 1962 Vincent Willem founded the Van Gogh foundation and initiated the building of the museum. The collection was given on permanent loan to the museum by the family.

The Van Gogh Museum, however, is not only about his painting. There you can also learn about the turbulent life of this remarkable Dutch artist. And to place everything into perspective, there’s also an exhibition of Van Gogh’s contemporaries like Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet and Pissarro.

The building where the Van Gogh Museum is housed is also a masterpiece. It was designed by the famous Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld, who unfortunately couldn’t see his creation as he passed away within a year after the project started in 1963. The museum was finished by his colleagues van Dillen and van Tricht and officially opened in 1973. In 2015 a new glass entrance foyer was added to the building. The new entrance on Museumplein is simply spectacular with the facade of bent-on-site double laminated glass that makes the whole building look transparent.

Rembrandthuis

The Rembranthuis (the Rembrandt’s House) is where the well-known Dutch master has lived from 1639 till 1658. Actually, the house is not strictly an art museum, but you can’t visit Amsterdam without coming in interaction with Rembrandt. The best place to learn as much as possible about the artist is, of course, his house.

When you enter the house, you step back into the time of the Dutch Golden Age. Wander from one room to the other and discover how life was back in the 17th century and how Amsterdam looked like those days. Check out the studio of the artist and imagine how he would stand there sketching for the next big masterpiece.

The collection of Rembrandthuis includes a few paintings of the artist, lots of drawings and almost all of his etchings. The museum also organizes temporary exhibitions.

Tip: To make the most of your visit to the museum, take the audio tour. It’s included in the entry tickets and it’s a great way to learn more and hear all the stories. It’s available in Dutch, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, and Russian.

Stedelijk Museum

Stedelijk Museum (the City Museum) is another art museum in Amsterdam located on the Museumplein (Museum Square). It is the place for modern and contemporary art and design in the Netherlands. Through the years (the museum was established in 1874) it has acquired a huge collection of art works, starting with the post-impressionists from the end of the 19th century and going through the 20th-century’s movements De Stijl, Bauhaus, CoBrA, pop art.

Some of the masterpieces of the Stedelijk (the way the Dutch call it with affection) include works of Jackson Pollock, Kazimir Malevich, Mondriaan, Picasso, Andy Warhol, Gerrit Rietveld, Kandinsky and Chagall. In the rotating permanent collection of the museum, which exhibits 700 pieces at a time, you can see some of these works. The museum works also with temporary exhibitions that showcase contemporary artists and designers.

The building where the Stedelijk Museum is housed, was built in 1895 and in 2012 it got a new face. The new wing and entrance hall scream modern design which perfectly suits the image of the museum and what is stands for. The new building of Stedelijk was immediately nicknamed “the bathtub” and righteously.

FOAM Photo Museum

FOAM is “all about photography”. The photography museum in Amsterdam organizes exhibitions of both contemporary and historical works. Established photographers are exhibited side by side with emerging artists.

The museum opened in 2001 and is housed in a beautiful house on Keizersgracht on the Canal Ring in Amsterdam, one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Netherlands.

MOCO Museum

The new kid on the block on Museumplein is the MOdern COntemporary Museum Amsterdam, or MOCO Museum in short. Established in 2016 and housed in the beautiful Villa Alsberg, built in 1904, the museum already won a name in the modern and contemporary art circles with its exhibitions of Banksy, Yayoi Kusama, OSGEMEOS, Tracey Emin, and Andy Warhol among others.

The MOCO Museum offers innovative and immersive exhibitions bordering with shows, like the Reflecting Forward by Studio Irma, for example.

Recently, MOCO Museum opened a branch in Barcelona (Spain) in the former Palacio Cervelló.

For a complete overview of all art museums in Amsterdam and art galleries, check out this page on Exploring the Netherlands website.