The Rijksmuseum () is the

national museum A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...

of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch

arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

and

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and is located in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. The museum is located at the

Museum Square Museum Square or the SAG-AFTRA Building, originally the Prudential Building is a landmark building at 5757–5779 Wilshire Boulevard, spanning two city blocks along that street, on the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles housing SAG-AFTRA. It was opened in ...

in the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

of Amsterdam South, close to the

Van Gogh Museum The Van Gogh Museum () is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opened o ...

, the

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

, and the

Concertgebouw Concertgebouw may refer to one of the following concert halls: * Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands * Concertgebouw, Bruges, Belgium * Concertgebouw de Vereeniging, Netherlands {{disambiguation Buildings and structures disambiguation pages ...

. The Rijksmuseum was founded in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

on 19 November 1798 and moved to Amsterdam in 1808, where it was first located in the

Royal Palace This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania {, class="wikitable" width="95%" , - bgcolor="white" !align=center, Residence !align=center, Photo !align=center, City !align=cen ...

and later in the

Trippenhuis The Trippenhuis is a neoclassical canal mansion in the centre of Amsterdam. It was built in 1660–1662 for the wealthy Amsterdam weapons traders Louis and Hendrick Trip. Many references to weaponry can be seen on its facade. Since 1887 it has be ...

. The current main building was designed by

Pierre Cuypers Petrus Josephus Hubertus "Pierre" Cuypers (16 May 1827 – 3 March 1921) was a Dutch architect. His name is most frequently associated with the Amsterdam Central Station (1881–1889) and the Rijksmuseum (1876–1885), both in Amsterdam. ...

and first opened in 1885.The renovation
Rijksmuseum. Retrieved on 4 April 2013. On 13 April 2013, after a ten-year renovation which cost

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

375 million, the main building was reopened by

Queen Beatrix Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix was born during the reign of her maternal gr ...

."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 ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' (London). 13 April 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2013. In 2013 and 2014, it was the most visited museum in the Netherlands with record numbers of 2.2 million and 2.47 million visitors.Jaarverslag 2014
(in Dutch), Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 23 January 2017.Jaarverslag 2013
(in Dutch), Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 23 January 2017. It is also the

largest Large means of great size. Large may also refer to: Mathematics * Arbitrarily large, a phrase in mathematics * Large cardinal, a property of certain transfinite numbers * Large category, a category with a proper class of objects and morphisms (or ...

art museum in the country. The museum has on display 8,000 objects of

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

and

, from their total collection of 1 million objects from the years 1200–2000, among which are some masterpieces by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, ; ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem, a city in which the local authority of the day frowned on religious painting in places of worship but citizens liked to decorate thei ...

, and

Johannes Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , ; see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch ...

. The museum also has a small

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n 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 Huis ten Bosch (, ; ) is a royal palace in The Hague, Netherlands. It is one of three official residences of the Dutch monarch; the two others being the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague and the Royal Palace of Amsterdam. Huis ten Bosch was th ...

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 The Mauritshuis (, ; ) is an art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The museum houses the Royal Cabinet of Paintings which consists of 854 objects, mostly Dutch Golden Age paintings. The collection contains works by Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van ...

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.

18th century

In 1795, the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic (; ) was the Succession of states, successor state to the Dutch Republic, Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 after the Batavian Revolution and ended on 5 June 1806, with the acce ...

was proclaimed; its

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

Isaac Gogel argued that a national museum, following the French example of

The Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

, 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 Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

: ''Nationale Kunst-Galerij''), precursor of the Rijksmuseum, opened in

. The museum exhibited around 200 paintings and historic objects from the collections of the Dutch

stadtholder In the Low Countries, a stadtholder ( ) was a steward, first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and ...

s. In 1805, the National Art Gallery moved within

to the

Prince William V Gallery The Prince William V Gallery is an art gallery on the Buitenhof (The Hague), Buitenhof in The Hague that currently shares an entrance with the Gevangenpoort museum. It is a recreation of the original gallery ''Galerij Prins Willem V'', once founde ...

, on the Buitenhof. In 1806, the

Kingdom of Holland The Kingdom of Holland ( (contemporary), (modern); ) was the successor state of the Batavian Republic. It was created by Napoleon Bonaparte in March 1806 in order to strengthen control over the Netherlands by replacing the republican governmen ...

was established by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

Bonaparte. On the orders of king

Louis Bonaparte Louis Bonaparte (born Luigi Buonaparte; 2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was a younger brother of Napoleon, Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. He was a monarch in his own right from 1806 to 1810, ruling over the Kingdom of Holland (a French c ...

, brother of Napoleon, the museum moved to

in 1808. Paintings owned by that city, such as ''

The Night Watch ''Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq'', also known as ''The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch'', but commonly referred to as ''The Night Watch'' (), is a 1642 painting ...

'' by

, became part of the collection. In 1809, the museum opened in the

. In 1817, the museum moved to the

. The Trippenhuis turned out to be unsuitable as a museum. In 1820, the historical objects were moved to the

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 Villa Welgelegen is a historical building in Haarlem, the Netherlands, which currently houses the offices of the provincial executives of North Holland. Located at the north end of a public park in the city, it is an example of neoclassical arch ...

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

. 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.

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 Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

and

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

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

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

s, for the tile panels and

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and W.F. Dixon for the

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

. The museum was opened at its new location on 13 July 1885.{{dead link, date=January 2016 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 Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

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 Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

Wing''.

20th century

In 1906, the hall for ''

'' 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.{{cite web , title = Stadhouderskade 42. Rijksmuseum (1876/85). Interieur , work = Monumenten en Archeologie in Amsterdam , publisher = City of Amsterdam , url = http://www.bma.amsterdam.nl/adam/nl/msp/rijksi.html , access-date = 1 April 2007 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070202201716/http://www.bma.amsterdam.nl/adam/nl/msp/rijksi.html , archive-date = 2 February 2007, language=nl 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.

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

's ''The Night Watch'' and other 17th-century masterpieces. The restoration and

renovation Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, o ...

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

375 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. ''

'' 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. On 1 November 2014, the Philips Wing reopened with the exhibition '' Modern Times: Photography in the 20th Century''.

List of directors

* Cornelis Sebille Roos *

Cornelis Apostool Cornelis Apostool (; 6 August 1762 – 10 February 1844) was a Dutch artist, diplomat, and museum director. Biography Cornelis Apostool was born on 6 August 1762 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. His father was Jan Apostool, a Mennonite and a ...

(1808–1844) *

Jan Willem Pieneman Jan Willem Pieneman (; 4 November 1779 – 8 April 1853) was a Dutch painter. Biography Jan Willem Pieneman was born on 4 November 1779 in Abcoude in the Dutch Republic (present-day Netherlands). Initially, he worked as a salesman, but also t ...

(1844–1847) * {{ill, Johann Wilhelm Kaiser, nl (1873–1883) * Frederik Daniël Otto Obreen (1883–1896) * Barthold Willem Floris van Riemsdijk (1897–1921) * Frederik Schmidt-Degener (1921–1941) * David Röell (1945–1959) * Arthur F.E. van Schendel (1959–1975){{in lang, nl Lucette ter Borg,
Gedonderjaag in het Rijksmuseum
, ''

de Volkskrant ''De Volkskrant'' (; ), stylized as de Volkskrant, is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium- ...

'', 2000. Retrieved 25 April 2013. * Simon Levie (1975–1989) *

Henk van Os Hendrik Willem van Os (28 February 1938 – 14 June 2025) was a Dutch art historian. He served as professor of Art and Cultural History, director of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and presenter of television programs on art. Biography Henk v ...

(1989–1996) * Ronald de Leeuw (1996–2008) *

Wim Pijbes Willem Meint Jans "Wim" Pijbes (born 9 October 1961) is a Dutch art historian and emeritus general director of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Pijbes' initiatives at the Rijksmuseum include the museum's complete refurbishment and reopening in April ...

(2008–2016) *

Taco Dibbits Taco Dibbits (; born 7 September 1968) is an art historian from Amsterdam, Netherlands and director of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. Education Dibbits studied art history at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the University of Cambridge. Car ...

(2016–present)

Building

The building of the Rijksmuseum was designed by

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 A (, ) is a national heritage site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. At the end of February 2015, the Netherlands had 61,822 l ...

'' (national heritage site) since 1970 and was listed in the

Top 100 Dutch heritage sites The Top 100 Dutch heritage sites is a list of rijksmonuments in the Netherlands, established in 1990 by the Department for Conservation (Monumentenzorg, today the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed). The Top 100 was a selection of historical mo ...

in 1990. The Asian pavilion was designed by

Cruz y Ortiz Cruz y Ortiz arquitectos is an architectural studio founded by Antonio Cruz Villalón and Antonio Ortiz García. The studio have offices in Seville and in Amsterdam. Biography Architect Antonio Cruz Villalón was born in Seville, Spain, in 1948 ...

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."{{Cite web, url=http://www.archdaily.com/496461/rijksmuseum-revisited-the-dutch-national-museum-one-year-on/, title = Rijksmuseum Revisited: The Dutch National Museum One Year on, date = 15 April 2014 File:Trippenhuis Amsterdam interior 003.jpg, The Rijksmuseum was located in the

between 1817 and 1885. File:P.J.H. Cuypers Rijksmuseum perspective.jpg, Drawing of the design by

in 1876. File:Rijksmuseum Amsterdam ca 1895.jpg, Front of Cuypers' building, circa 1895. File:Museo Nacional, Ámsterdam, Países Bajos, 2016-05-30, DD 16-18 HDR.jpg, View of the facade by night. File:Amsterdam 2016 Rijksmuseum.webm, Video of the Rijksmuseum (2016). File:Rijksmuseum stoa 7213.jpg, The Passage of the Rijksmuseum, the Passage is also used as a bicycle tunnel. File:Rijksmuseum 2024.jpg, The front of the Rijksmuseum in 2024.

Collection

{{See also, 120 Paintings from the Rijksmuseum, List of painters in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Royal Charles

The collection of the Rijksmuseum consists of 1 million objects and is dedicated to

crafts A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pr ...

, and

from the years 1200 to 2000. Around 8,000 objects are currently on display in the museum. The collection contains more than 2,000

s from the

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the '' Rampjaar'' occurred. During this period, Dutch trade, scientific development ...

by notable painters such as

Jacob van Ruisdael Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael (; 1629 – 10 March 1682) was a Dutch painter, draughtsman, and etcher. He is generally considered the pre-eminent landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age, a period of great wealth and cultural achie ...

Jan Steen Jan Havickszoon Steen ( – buried 3 February 1679) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, one of the leading genre painters of the 17th century. His works are known for their psychological insight, sense of humour and abundance of colour. Life ...

, 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 The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

of {{HMS, Royal Charles, 1660, 6 which was captured in the

Raid on the Medway The Raid on the Medway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in June 1667, was a successful attack conducted by the Dutch navy on English warships laid up in the fleet anchorages off Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham in the county of Kent. At th ...

, the

Hartog plate Hartog Plate or Dirk Hartog's Plate is either of two pewter plates, although primarily the first, which were left on Dirk Hartog Island on the western coast of Australia before European settlement there. The first plate, left in 1616 by Netherlan ...

and the FK35 ''Bantam'' biplane. In 2012, the museum made some 125,000

high-resolution Image resolution is the level of detail of an image. The term applies to digital images, film images, and other types of images. "Higher resolution" means more image detail. Image resolution can be measured in various ways. Resolution quantifies ...

images available for download via its Rijksstudio webplatform, with plans to add another 40,000 images per year until the entire collection of one million works is available, according to

, director of collections. As of January 2021, the Rijksstudio hosts 700,000 works, available under a Creative Commons 1.0 Universal license, essentially copyright-free and royalty-free.

Gallery

File:Frans Hals - Portret van een stel in een landschap - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Portrait of a Young Couple'' (1622) by

File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn - Jeremia treurend over de verwoesting van Jeruzalem - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem'' (1630) by

File:Frans Hals, De magere compagnie.jpg, '' The Meagre Company'' (1633–37) by

and

Pieter Codde Pieter Jacobsz Codde (December 11, 1599 – October 12, 1678) was a Dutch painter of genre works, guardroom scenes and portraits. Life Codde was a technically skilled painter. He is said to have studied with Frans Hals, but it is more likely ...

File:La ronda de noche, por Rembrandt van Rijn.jpg, ''

'' (1642) by

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 Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613 – buried 16 December 1670) was a Dutch painter. Considered to be one of the leading portrait painters of the Dutch Golden Age, his elegant portraits gained him the patronage of Amsterdam's elite as well as th ...

File:Jan Asselijn - De bedreigde zwaan; later opgevat als allegorie op Johan de Witt - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

The Threatened Swan ''The Threatened Swan'' ()The Threatened Swan, Jan Asselijn, c. 1650
...

'' ({{circa 1650) by

Jan Asselijn Jan Asselijn ( 1610 – October 1, 1652) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography Asselijn was born at Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, Dieppe from a French Huguenot family as ''Jean Asselin''. He received instruction from Esaias van de Velde (158 ...

File:Johannes Vermeer - Het melkmeisje - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Milkmaid'' ({{circa 1657–58) by

File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn - Portret van een paar als Oud-Testamentische figuren, genaamd 'Het Joodse bruidje' - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Jewish Bride'' ({{circa 1667) by

File:Portret van een meisje in het blauw Rijksmuseum SK-A-3064.jpeg, ''

Girl in a Blue Dress ''Girl in a Blue Dress'', also called ''Portrait of a Girl Dressed in Blue'' () or simply ''Portrait of a Girl''Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck (between 1600 and 1603 – buried 30 June 1662) was a Dutch Golden Age portrait painter from Haarlem. Life Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck was born between 1600 and 1603 in Haarlem as the son of the painter Corneli ...

File:Jacob Isaacksz. van Ruisdael - Landschap met waterval - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

Landscape with Waterfall ''Landscape with Waterfall'' (Dutch language, Dutch ''Landschap met waterval, in de verte een kerk'') (c. 1660s) is an oil painting, oil on canvas painting by the Netherlands, Dutch landscape painter Jacob van Ruisdael. It is an example of Dutch ...

'' (1660s) by

File:Shivaji Rijksmuseum.jpg,

Shivaji Shivaji I (Shivaji Shahaji Bhonsale, ; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680) was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle dynasty. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the Sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the ...

's portrait (1680s) in the Rijksmuseum (1630–80) File:De Slag bij Waterloo Rijksmuseum SK-A-1115.jpeg, ''

The Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army under the command of Napoleon I was def ...

'' (1824) by

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 Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

in the

Dutch colonial empire The Dutch colonial empire () comprised overseas territories and trading posts under some form of Dutch control from the early 17th to late 20th centuries, including those initially administered by Dutch chartered companies—primarily the Du ...

, 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 Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

, Brazil and the Caribbean, as well as Dutch colonial slavery in South Africa and Asia, where the

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was gra ...

(WIC) and the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

(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. It was complemented by audio tours and videos relating personal and real-life stories as well as an accompanying book titled ''Slavery''.

Vermeer

From 10 February until June 2023 the Rijksmuseum began to exhibit the biggest collection of Vermeers ever, with 28 of the known 37 works on display. Curator Pieter Roelofs called it a "once in a lifetime" event. All time slot reservations were quickly sold out.

Number of visitors

{, - class="wikitable" !year, , visitors, , rowspan="11" style="background:transparent", , , year, , visitors, , rowspan="11" style="background:transparent", , , year, , visitors ! rowspan="11" , !year !visitors , - , 1975, , 1,412,000{{in lang, nl}
Openingsjaar Rijksmuseum breek alle records
{{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228175959/https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/nu-in-het-museum/nieuws/openingsjaar-rijksmuseum-breek-alle-records , date=28 December 2013 , Rijksmuseum, 2013. Retrieved on 2013-12-27. , 2000, , 1,146,438{{in lang, nl}
Jaarverslag 2001
Rijksmuseum, 2002. Retrieved 25 April 2013. , 2010, , 896,393 , 2020 , 675,325{{Cite web , title=RIJKSMUSEUM JAARVERSLAGEN , url=https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/over-ons/wat-we-doen/jaarverslagen#:~:text=RIJKSMUSEUM%20JAARVERSLAGEN-,Jaarverslag%202021,-Jaarverslag%202020 , access-date=8 December 2022 , website=RIJKSMUSEUM , language=Dutch , - ! colspan="2" , , 2001, , 1,015,561 , 2011, , 1,010,402{{efn, This includes the 16,777 visitors to the main building. , 2021 , 623,923 , - , 1992, , 1,216,103{{efn, In 1993, the visitors number had decreased with 23% to 936,400, i.e. there were approximately 1,216,103 visitors in 1992. , 2002, , 1,100,488{{in lang, nl}
Jaarverslag 2003
Rijksmuseum, 2004. Retrieved 25 April 2013. , 2012, , 894,058Jaarverslag 2012
(in Dutch), Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 23 January 2017. , , , - , 1993, , 936,400{{in lang, nl
Museumbezoek in 1993 sterk gedaald
, ''

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by Mediahuis NRC. It is widely regarded as a newspaper of record in the country. History was first published on 1 October 1970 after a merger of the Amst ...

'', 1994. Retrieved 21 November 2016. , 2003, , 833,450{{efn, The main building was closed from 7 December 2003. , 2013, , 2,246,122 , , , - , 1994, , 1,002,000{{efn, In 1995, the visitor number had decreased with 60,000 to 942,000, i.e. there were approximately 1,002,000 visitors in 1994. , 2004, , 812,102{{in lang, nl}
Jaarverslag 2005
Rijksmuseum, 2006. Retrieved 25 April 2013. , 2014, , 2,474,352 , , , - , 1995, , 942,000{{in lang, nl
Grote musea trokken in 1995 minder bezoekers
, ''

Trouw ''Trouw'' (; ) is a Dutch daily newspaper appearing in compact size. It was founded in 1943 as an orthodox Protestant underground newspaper during World War II. Since 2009, it has been owned by DPG Media (known as De Persgroep until 2019). '' ...

'', 1996. Retrieved 21 November 2016. , 2005, , 842,586 , 2015, , 2,345,666Jaarverslag 2015
(in Dutch), Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 23 January 2017. , , , - , 1996, , 1,275,000 , 2006, , 1,142,182{{in lang, nl}
Jaarverslag 2011
Rijksmuseum, 2012. Retrieved on 25 April 2013. , 2016, , 2,200,000 (est.){{in lang, nl Jasper Piersma,
Van Gogh Museum zit Rijks op de hielen als populairste museum
, ''

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'', 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016. , , , - , 1997, , 1,084,652{{in lang, nl}
Jaarverslag 1998
Rijksmuseum, 1999. Retrieved 25 April 2013. , 2007, , 969,561 , 2017 , , , , - , 1998, , 1,229,445{{in lang, nl}
Jaarverslag 1999
Rijksmuseum, 2000. Retrieved 25 April 2013. , 2008, , 975,977 , 2018 , , , , - , 1999, , 1,310,497 , 2009, , 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. Within eight months since the reopening in 2013, the museum was visited by 2 million people. The museum had 2.2 million visitors in 2013 and reached an all-time record of 2.47 million visitors in 2014. The museum was the most visited museum in the Netherlands and the 19th most visited art museum in the world in 2013 and 2014.{{in lang, nl Claudia Kammer & Daan van Lent,
Musea trokken dit jaar opnieuw meer bezoekers
, ''

'', 2014. Retrieved on 18 July 2015.Top 100 Art Museum Attendance
''

The Art Newspaper ''The Art Newspaper'' is a monthly print publication, with daily updates online, founded in 1990 and based in London and New York City. It covers news of the visual arts as they are affected by international politics and economics, developments i ...

'', 2015. Retrieved on 18 July 2015.Top 100 Art Museum Attendance
''

'', 2014. Retrieved on 28 June 2014. The

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic forced the closure of the museum from 15 December 2020, until 4 June 2021.

Library

The

Rijksmuseum Research Library The Rijksmuseum Research Library is the largest and oldest public art history research library in the Netherlands. The library is part of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The profile of the library collection parallels that of the museum. The onlin ...

is part of the Rijksmuseum, and is the best and the largest public

art history Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

research library A research library is a library that contains an in-depth collection of material on one or several subjects.(Young, 1983; p. 188) A research library will generally include an in-depth selection of materials on a particular topic or set of top ...

in The Netherlands.

Restaurant

Rijks, stylized as RIJKS®, is a restaurant with 140 seats in the Philips Wing. Joris Bijdendijk has been the

chef de cuisine A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads a kitchen and its cooks. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef is a chef that manages multiple kitche ...

since the opening in 2014. The restaurant was awarded a

Michelin star The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...

in 2017.Michelinster voor Amsterdamse restaurants Rijks, Bolenius en Mos
, ''

'', 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2017.

Notes

{{Notelist

References

{{Reflist

External links

{{Rijksmonument, 5680 * {{commons category-inline * {{Official website
Multimedia Content of museumVirtual tour of the Rijksmuseum
provided by

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world, operated by Google. It utilizes high-re ...

{{Amsterdam {{Authority control {{WikidataCoord 1798 establishments in the Batavian Republic Amsterdam-Zuid Art museums and galleries in the Netherlands 1798 in art Art museums and galleries established in the 1790s Buildings and structures completed in 1798 Educational organizations established in 1798 Articles containing video clips Museums in Amsterdam National museums of the Netherlands Order of Arts and Letters of Spain recipients Pierre Cuypers buildings Rijksmonuments in Amsterdam 18th-century architecture in the Netherlands Renaissance Revival architecture in the Netherlands Gothic Revival architecture in the Netherlands