An Art Lover's Guide to Holland

Feast your eyes on some of Europe’s most spectacular art with our guide to Holland’s most culture-packed cities.

 

Rotterdam

Sculptures Rotterdam

Sculpture International Rotterdam is a city-wide exhibition that is free of charge. Hop on a bike and follow the Urban Guides cycling route Art & Architecture, that passes a selection of the sculptures that were placed during the reconstruction of Rotterdam.

If you love street art, a visit to the Luchtsingel and the Hofbogen is a must. This is where local artists create the most impressive murals. You can also follow the 7 kilometres-long Rotterdam Street Art Route, which will take you through the city centre to admire a total of 28 striking murals. The perfect way to end this cycling route would be to head to the Ani & Haakien hostel where a Graffiti & Bar evening is organised every Friday.

No visit to Rotterdam is complete without a visit to the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum or the Kunsthal, both are two great art institutions in Rotterdam.

Utrecht

Centraal Museum Utrecht

The Centraal Museum in Utrecht, situated in an old monastery, hosts a variety of works including pieces by Gerrit Rietveld, Dick Bruna, the Utrecht Caravaggists and designs by Viktor & Rolf.

In a former school building not far away from the Dom tower, Fotodok organises exhibitions, lectures and debates around societal subjects. Fotodok tells stories with documentary photography but also with film, virtual reality and web documentaries.

Den Bosch

Design Museum Den Bosch

The Design Museum Den Bosch looks beyond design, here the focus is on art’s influence in our day-to-day lives and the story behind it. The Design Museum highlights the cultural meaning and the role of design in the past, present and the future.

At the Jan Van Hoof Gallery, abstract art from young upcoming talent as well as works from more established artists can be discovered. 

Eindhoven

Design Academy Eindhoven ©Sjoerd_Eickmans

Eindhoven is well known for its design academy and the city truly bursts with creativity. The city hosts an annual Dutch Design Week in October, which attracts 335.000 visitors ready to admire the works of 2600 designers. In Eindhoven, you can visit the huge workshop, exhibition room and restaurant of the designer Piet Hein Eek. At Sectie C, in the Tongelre quarter, you will find a lot of designers that house their workshops in former factories.

The Temporary Art Centre (TAC) is a great cultural hub with 80 workshops and 2000 m² of space for exhibitions, concerts, performances, presentations and parties.

Tilburg

De Pont Museum Tilburg

You can admire modern art in a former wool factory in De Pont Museum in Tilburg. The old factory, with its huge and light rooms as well as the more intimate wool rooms, is an ideal place for art works.  The museum shows both national and international contemporary art, such as the Sky Mirror sculpture by Anish Kapoor. In addition to the permanent collections, the museum also organises 3 main exhibitions per year.

Nijmegen

Zeven Zomers Gallery Nijmegen

The number Seven is associated with mysticism, spiritualism and happiness. Summers refers to: warmth, sun, light, power and freedom. Based on this concept, Art gallery Zeven Zomers (Seven Summers) presents contemporary art to its visitors. The focus is on quality and expressiveness. However, the oil paintings by Eelko van Iersel are exhibited continuously. The gallery also exhibits two-dimensional and three-dimensional work by different artists. These exhibitions are carefully compiled, so the art can reinforce each other. The displayed collection includes various disciplines. In addition to paintings, you can find sculptures in various materials and techniques, works on paper, glass art as well as photography.

Arnhem

Kröller-Müller Museum Otterlo

Beeldende Kunst Arnhem is a unique collaboration of a large number of artists, galleries, collections and museums showing art throughout the city until the end of 2019. Hop on a bike and discover the most iconic locations. 

Not far from Arnhem you find the Kröller-Müller Museum with a great sculpture garden with works by Jean Dubuffet, Aristide Maillol, Marta Pan and Pierre Huyghe. The permanent collection holds a large body of works by Van Gogh paintings and other artists such as Mondrian, Juan Gris, Isaac Israels, Johan Barthold Jongkind among others.

Groningen

Noorderlicht Groningen

NP3 is a platform for contemporary and experimental art with three locations in the city of Groningen. Each location has its own architecture, function and a different look and feel. From the location buro Groningen, with high white spaces to the interactive multimedia 24/7/365 programme eMMa in the architectural pearl of Rem Koolhaas, and the mobilem industrial container art hall MOBI. NP3 offers both national and international activities through an innovative programme that focuses on a variety of different art disciplines. 

 

Noorderlicht | House of Photography is a many-faceted and international platform, originally only for documentary photography, but now for any photographer who has a good story to tell. With a sharp eye for new developments, but averse to trends and hype, they devote attention to the photography of the world and to the world of photography. They do this by organising an annual photography festival, programming exhibitions in their photo gallery, organising photographic commissions and arranging discussions, lectures and masterclasses.