The Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is a versatile and quirky museum in the heart of the port city of Rotterdam. The museum is the only museum in the Netherlands that allows the visitor to browse through Western art history from the Middle Ages to the present.

Collectors' museum with a versatile collection

Visitors to the museum are often surprised by the richness and versatility of the collection. This originated from the passion of 1,700 private collectors. They have donated no less than 50,000 art objects in the nearly 170 years that the museum exists.

The museum derives its name from two major collectors: Frans Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. They added many top pieces to the collection, including 'De Marskramer' by Jheronimus Bosch and 'Het korenveld, in the background the Zuiderzee' by Jacob van Ruisdael.

Wim T. Schippers explains in this video the history of the museum collection and the role of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Foundation.

A world-class collection

The museum possesses old painting and sculpture, modern, contemporary and applied art, pre-industrial and industrial utensils. The collections of drawings and prints, early Dutch painting, impressionism and surrealism are among the absolute world leaders. Throughout the year, the museum also organizes spectacular exhibitions on various subjects.

Old and modern masters

The Old Masters are represented with works by Van Eyck, Bosch, Bruegel, Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck, Titian, Fra Angelico and Delacroix among others. The collection of impressionist works contains masterpieces by leading artists such as Monet, Cézanne, Pissarro, Renoir and Degas, supplemented by Dutch masters such as Van Gogh and Breitner. Expressionism is represented with, among others, Kokoschka, Van Dongen, Munch and Beckmann. The collection of surrealists, one of the largest in Europe, contains iconic works by Dalí, Magritte and Ernst. And post-1945 art is also well represented, including Minimal Art, Pop Art and Cobra.

Contemporary art and design

The museum also has a beautiful collection of utensils that together show the history of eight centuries of design. From medieval jugs and glass from the Golden Age to the furniture of Rietveld and contemporary Dutch Design. Artists of the new generation like Pipilotti Rist and Maurizio Cattelan give the museum international news.

This article and photos are courtesy of the Boijmans Van Beuningen's website