Name: The best of Frans Hals – an exhibition.
Start: 2024-02-16
End: 2024-06-09
Location: Rijksmuseum

The best of Frans Hals – an exhibition.

Frans Hals was a really good painter who lived a long time ago. He was born way back in 1582 in the Netherlands, and he spent most of his life there. Imagine, he was painting around the same time when people wore fancy clothes with big ruffles and feathers!

Frans Hals became famous for painting people. His most famous paintings are of groups of happy folks having a good time. One of his most well-known paintings is called “The Laughing Cavalier.” It’s a portrait of a man who looks really joyful, and it feels like he’s about to burst into laughter.

Another cool thing about Frans Hals is that he was really good at making people look lively in his paintings. He didn’t make them stand all stiff and serious – instead, they seemed like they were having a party!

Even though Frans Hals lived a super long time ago, his paintings are still famous and make people happy today. Imagine that – his art has been making people smile for hundreds of years!

Now you can learn more about Frans Hals in a temporary exhibition in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Doesn’t that sound like a great program?

The best of Frans Hals in Rijksmuseum.

Dates: February 16, 2024 – June 9, 2024
Location: Rijksmuseum

Admission fee: You need to pay the general admission fee to the museum and then you will also get access to this temporary exhibition. You can read more about the opening times of the museum and the entrance fees on our Rijksmuseum page.

You can read more about other programs and exhibitions in Amsterdam on our What’s Going on in Amsterdam page. Do not forget that you can read more general information about Amsterdam in our Amsterdam Guide, including information about famous attractions, public transportation, interesting day excursions, and much more.

The three museums all history lovers should visit in Amsterdam!

Posted on June 6, 2023June 6, 2023 by Amsterdam Guide

Amsterdam is an extraordinary city and there are a long list of museums worth visiting as you walk up and down the streets of the Dutch capital. But, which are the top three museums in Amsterdam for history lovers? Here you have our top-three list!

To make your itinerary planning easier, we have compiled a list of the top three best museums in Amsterdam for those who love history – including the history of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Europe in general. If you want even more, we even have some bonus recommendations for you!

The top-three museums in Amsterdam for history lovers!

1. Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum is one of the Netherlands’ most important and visited museums. The museum is dedicated to Dutch art and history and it houses some of the country’s most famous works, such as “Rembrandt’s Night Watch” and Vermeer’s “The Milkmaid”. Aside from the art, the museum also has an impressive collection of historical objects, relics, and documents from the Dutch history. You can learn about the history of the Netherlands from the Middle Ages to the present day, through objects such as historic ships, furniture, and scientific instruments.

2. Anne Frank House

The Anne Frank House is one of the most popular museums in Amsterdam and it documents the life of Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who hid in a secret annex in Amsterdam during the Holocaust. The museum is located in the building where Anne Frank and her family hid for more than two years and where she wrote her famous diary. Visiting this museum takes you on a journey through the life of Anne Frank, the Nazi persecution of Jews, and the experiences of those living in hiding.

3. Amsterdam Museum

The Amsterdam Museum, formerly known as the Historical Museum of Amsterdam, offers a comprehensive overview of the city’s history. It covers the development of Amsterdam from its humble beginnings as a fishing village to its rise as a major trading hub during the Dutch Golden Age. The museum explores various aspects of Amsterdam’s history, including its architecture, trade, social developments, and cultural heritage. It employs interactive exhibits, multimedia presentations, and historical objects to engage visitors in the city’s past.

Want even more? Here you have some additional recommendations!

Bonus 1: Van Gogh Museum

The Van Gogh Museum is a must-see destination for art lovers and anyone interested in the life of the famous Dutch painter. The museum houses an incredible collection of over 200 paintings, including some of Van Gogh’s most famous works such as “Sunflowers” and “The Potato Eaters”. The exhibit also includes letters he wrote to his family and friends, revealing insights into what inspired him to paint. You can also learn about Van Gogh’s life, emotions, and rise to fame, through interactive exhibits.

Bonus 2: Museum of Prostitution

Legalized prostitution is one of the things Amsterdam is most known for. Would you like to learn more about the history of prostitution, and also what life is like for a prostitute? At the Museum of Prostitution, you can gain insight into something hidden and banned in most other parts of the world.

Museum of Prostitution - Red Light Secret

At the museum, you will gain information about the Red Light District in Amsterdam, see rooms and what the interior looks like where sex workers do their job, and you can also see what it is like to stand in a window and look at the people passing by as many sex workers on normal days.

No matter what kind of history you are interested in, Amsterdam has fantastic museums waiting for you! If you want more information about programs, activities, attractions, transportation, and about upcoming events in Amsterdam, look around in our Amsterdam Guide.

Exhibition on the late works of Rembrandt

Posted on January 31, 2015July 24, 2017 by Amsterdam Guide

This year the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam will show an exhibition on the late works of Rembrandt from the middle of February to the middle of May.

For twenty years a complete Rembrandt exhibition will be shown again to the visitors giving a chance for everyone to get to know the greatest artist of the Dutch Golden Age. This will be the first exhibition dedicated only the late works of Rembrandt. Rembrandt was a Dutch painter who was born in 1606 and he died in 1669. Rembrandt is one of the most outstanding and most influential painters of all time and this will be the first time a whole exhibition will be dedicated only to his late art works. More than 100 various paintings, drawings and prints that were brought to Amsterdam from different museums and private collectors from all over the world will be shown at the exhibition. At this major exhibition visitors will have the chance to discover the most beautiful master pieces of Rembrandt. The exhibition on the late works of Rembrandt will take place at Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam from 12th February to 17th May in 2015.

Rijksmuseum
Postbus 74888, 1070 DN Amsterdam, Holland

For more information on the exhibition and the museum check the official site.

Modern Times exhibition

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Amsterdam Guide

This huge exhibition of photography is shown at the Rijksmuseum from this year November to next year January. This is the very first exhibition in the museum about photography in the 20th century.

The exhibition shows more than 400 pictures and it also includes rare pictures taken by Brassaï, Ed van der Elsken, John Gutmann, Lewis Hine, William Klein, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Joel Meyerowitz, László Moholy-Nagy, Eadweard Muybridge and so on. At the exhibition visitors have the chance to discover more on the development of photography. The exhibition focuses on the photography as pure art and it shows all the biggest steps in the development of this art form including the introduction of colours, newspaper pictures, the role of photography in fashion and magazines and so on. At the exhibition visitors can explore the most unique pictures taken back at the time when photography was a totally new and special form of art. The exhibition Modern Times. Photography in the 20th Century is on display at the Rijksmuseum in the capital of Holland Amsterdam. The exhibition is held from 1st November 2014 until 11th January 2015.

Rijksmuseum
Museumstraat 1, 1071 XX Amsterdam, Holland

If you want to know more on the exhibitions and the museum check the official site.

5 places to visit in Amsterdam

Posted on September 23, 2013November 21, 2014 by Amsterdam Guide

If you want to spend some days in Amsterdam, you will love this compilation presenting 5 places and activities that you should not miss out on as you come to visit us.

The first and maybe most important point on our list is the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Dutch national museum. The renovation of the building started in 2003 and they just finished it, so there is no barrier between you and the Rijksmuseum anymore. Besides lots of masterpieces, you can also find the most significant Rembrandt collection in the world and the biggest historical art public library of Netherlands in the museum.

Our second suggestion is connected to the first. We would like to introduce you the Van Gogh Museum, which is located very close to the Rijksmuseum. As you probably realized, this is the world’s biggest collection of the eccentric painter, Van Gogh’s works. 200 paintings, 500 drawings and 700 letters help visitors to know more about one of the most famous artists’ art and life. Naturally there are temporary exhibitions and other artists’ paintings too in the Van Gogh Museum, for example visitors could see Rembrandt’s and Caravaggio’s masterpieces here.

Our third suggestion is on the border between culture and fun. This is actually a museum, people could meet new things, but the topic is different from for example the Van Gogh Museum. This is the program Heineken Experience. The tour is in the old Heineken factory, which is now a museum. Here visitors can see the famous beer’s components one by one, see the system of bottling, see the way of the beer from bottling to the bottle opener and moreover gives you the chance to get a beer with your own name at. The ticket includes two glasses of beer too. Do not forget, people can only drink alcohol over 18 years old, underage persons could enter into the museum only with adult.

After all the cultural experiences we deserve a little resting shopping. The fourth point is a few words about the flea market of Amsterdam. Here you can find everything that you need and lots of stuff that you do not need. The sellers from different nations offer lots of things, so everybody can find what they dream about. By lots of stands you can bargain with the sellers, so you could buy the object of your dreams for lower price than the original. The market is huge; it is usually open between morning and late afternoon. Its territory is big, so it worth to arrive until 12, to have time for see all the stands.

The fifth point on our list is connecting to the shopping and this is the famous Flower Market in Amsterdam. As you probably know, Amsterdam is the country of tulips. At the Flower Market besides the different and special tulips, tulip bulbs you can smell, see and of course buy other, lots of different type and color flowers.

We hope this article has been useful to you and that have gotten some ideas and suggestions for what to do in Amsterdam. If you have further ideas and advices, please write a comment. If you like the article, press the like button and share it with your friends on Facebook!

The lure of falconry in Rijksmuseum

Posted on September 14, 2012October 1, 2018 by Amsterdam Guide

While still waiting for the Rijksmuseum to be 100% finished and all renovation work history (which will happen in 2013) the museum is still going strong and an interesting exhibition titled The lure of falconry can be seen in the Philips wing from August 157 till November 19th in 2012. This exhibition has been set on display due to the fact that UNESCO, part of the United Nations, recently recognised the traditional art of falconry as intangible cultural heritage not long ago.

More about the exhibition (source)
In medieval Europe, falconry was an activity reserved for royalty and nobility and came to be a form of entertainment intertwined with a genteel, courtly lifestyle. In European courts a remarkably large number of falconers, who trained and cared for the birds, were from the Netherlands. For centuries, the village of Valkenswaard, located in the Kempen region of the province of Noord-Brabant, and situated along the migration route of the peregrine falcon, was a key supplier of birds and falconers. In the prints, the falconers are often depicted as courtly lovers, noble saints or vain libertines. The prints will be displayed among several historical artefacts relating to falconry from the private collections of falconers.

The lure of falconry in Rijksmuseum
August 7th – November 19th
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

There are lots of other museums in Amsterdam to visit during your stay, and do not miss out on all the other cool attractions and nice restaurants while in town. If you have some time of, we can also warmly recommend a day trip to for example Brussels.

Frozen for three centuries – Rijksmuseum

Posted on January 27, 2012January 27, 2012 by Amsterdam Guide

Starting on 22 November, the Rijksmuseum will be exhibiting roughly 75 original objects from Nova Zembla. The objects were left on the island in 1597, after Willem Barentsz had overwintered there with his crew, and were found three centuries later. Weapons, goods, tools and personal belongings will be on display. The exhibition will also include new work by British artist Siân Bowen, who took inspiration from prints that were also found on Nova Zembla.

If this sounds like an interesting exhibition to you, visit the Rijksmuseum before March the 5th to check it out!

Frozen for three centuries
Rijksmuseum
November 22nd, 2011 – March 5, 2012

Museums in Amsterdam

Christmas exhibition at the Rijksmuseum

Posted on December 20, 2011January 6, 2012 by Amsterdam Guide

If you would like to see magnificent wooden and painted Madonnas, then you better head of to the Rijksmuseum to check out the Christmas exhibition available until March 5th, 2012. At the exhibition you can see a picture from 1490 called “The Holy Kinship”, and besides this you can see many other wonderful paintings and wooden work. So, if you are still in the Christmas atmosphere, why not check out this exhibition?