How we love modern art! We love to visit museums and although we admire the old masters a lot, we prefer modern art. I love artists like Van Gogh, Picasso, Magritte and Escher. You can make Sebastiaan especially happy with experimental contemporary art. These are our top choices for modern art in the Netherlands!
15 best modern art museums in the Netherlands
#1 Museum Voorlinden
Wassenaar | Website | This is without any doubt our favourite. This private museum with mainly contemporary art is located on a beautiful estate near Wassenaar. It has changing exhibitions, but also a permanent collection with amazing works of art. How about a huge but lifelike sculpture of an older couple on the beach? Or Leandro Erlich’s Swimming Pool where you can go underwater without getting your clothes wet? On a beautiful day, don’t forget to take a walk through the beautiful park. Tip: rent a (public transport) bicycle from The Hague Central Station and cycle along a beautiful route to this museum!
#2 Van Gogh Museum
Amsterdam | Tickets | Website | Of course, one of the most famous Dutch painters has its own museum in the capital. Nowhere will you find more Van Goghs than in this museum! From the Aardappeleters (Potato Eaters) to the Zonnebloemen (Sunflowers), you can admire them all here. Make sure you are there very early or late to avoid the crowds, as it can get so crowded here that it is difficult to view a painting at ease.
Tip: on Friday evenings the museum stays open until 9 pm, and it’s a lot quieter then.
#3 Kröller-Müller
Veluwe| Tickets | Website | One of the most beautiful museums in the Netherlands! It is named after Anton and Helene Kröller-Müller, the founders of the National Park De Hoge Veluwe and the most remarkable couple of their time. More than a hundred years ago they founded the national park, where he liked to hunt and she wanted to house her modern art collection. Her museum wasn’t built until after the couple was forced by debt to give their collection to the Dutch state. On one condition: it had to be housed in a museum in the park.
This museum is now one of the most important in the country. With almost 90 paintings and more than 180 drawings by Vincent van Gogh, Kröller-Müller has the second largest collection of his work. The museum therefore gives a good impression of the work and life of the famous and troubled artist. Do not forget to visit the sculpture garden and the other exhibitions with modern art as well. Tip: buy a combination ticket online for both the park and the museum.
→ Discover the best things to do in National Park Veluwe
#4 Escher in het Paleis
Den Haag | Tickets | Website | M.C. Escher is one of the best known graphic artists of the Netherlands. His work in which he plays with perspective and reality, is extremely fascinating! The masterpieces of his work can be found in this museum in The Hague. The location itself is beautiful as well: the eighteenth-century palace on Lange Voorhout where Queen Mother Emma lived for years. The queens Wilhelmina, Juliana and Beatrix also used it as their work palace. It wasn’t sold to the city of The Hague until the 1990s. After that, changing exhibitions were organised here and in 2002 the Escher collection was given a home in the palace.
#5 Kunsthal
Rotterdam | Website | In an iconic design by the famous architect Rem Koolhaas, changing exhibitions with mainly modern and contemporary art are shown. There are different exhibition halls, so there are always several large and smaller exhibitions. As Rotterdam inhabitants we come here quite often and we have seen for example exhibitions with the clothing designs of Victor & Rolf, impressive hyper-realistic sculptures and paintings and unknown works by Picasso.
#6 Kunstmuseum Den Haag
The Hague | Tickets | Website | Changing and permanent exhibitions give you a broad look at modern art here. The highlight is the world’s largest collection of works by Piet Mondrian.
#7 Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
Amsterdam | Tickets | Website | The Stedelijk is the largest museum for modern and contemporary art in the country. ‘De Badkuip’ (‘The Bathtub’) – as the Amsterdam people call the futuristic annex at the historic museum building – can be found among the other big musea at Museumplein. It shows an impressive permanent collection, but there are also changing exhibitions.
#8 Museum MORE
Gorssel | Website | There is a fairly new museum in the small town of Gorssel. The museum has the largest collection of the Dutch art movement Modern Realism. It was founded in 2015 to host the private collection of collectors Hans and Monique Melchers. The permanent collection shows works by well-known Dutch artists such as Charley Toorop, Carel Willink and Erwin Olaf, but there are also changing exhibitions.
#9 Kunstinstituut Melly
Rotterdam | Website | This art institute on Rotterdam’s liveliest nightlife street is Sebastiaan’s favourite. You may know it as Witte de With. In 2021 it was renamed Kunstinstituut Melly, because its namesake Witte de With was a seventeenth-century naval officer with a colonial past. Melly comes from Ken Lum’s artwork Melly Shum Hates Her Job, which has hung on the façade since 1990. The changing exhibitions show all kinds of contemporary art. It can feel a bit inaccessible, and that’s certainly the case here, so it’s mainly one for true contemporary art lovers.
#10 MOCO Museum
Amsterdam | Tickets | Website | This self-proclaimed ’boutique museum’ on the Museumplein has changing exhibitions with modern and contemporary art. With works by famous artists such as Banksy, Arsham and Warhol, this private museum has been a major crowd puller since its opening. The museum is housed in a beautiful villa on Museumplein, designed by Eduard Cuypers, nephew of Pierre Cuypers, the architect behind the Rijksmuseum and Amsterdam Central Station.
#11 Groninger Museum
Groningen | Tickets | Website |In the north of the country you should go to the Groninger Museum for modern art. The museum is located in an eccentric structure from the 90s that immediately sets the tone for your museum visit. The building itself is seen as one of the highlights of the post-modern architecture. In addition to the permanent collection, there are changing exhibitions.
#12 Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen
Rotterdam | Tickets | Website | The Boijmans museum building is closed for a major renovation until around 2029. The good news? You can still see the collection in the Depot next door, the mirrored building in Museumpark. It’s the museum’s storage, opened up to visitors, with old masters and even more modern art: from pop art and impressionism to surrealism, with works by Dalí, Van Gogh, Picasso, Degas and Magritte among others. In the old museum building we once walked around a temporary exhibition in pink suits, between giant turds. Yes, really.
#13 Rijksmuseum
Amsterdam | Tickets | Website | The Rijksmuseum is probably the most famous and most visited museum in the Netherlands. The building itself is a work of art, but the most famous works are of course The Night Watch, The Milkmaid and The Threatened Swan. But did you know that the Rijks also has an impressive collection of modern art? For this you should go to the top floor. The rest of the museum can be quite busy, but here you can look at a completely different side of the art collection without any crowd.
→ Discover the 10 must-see paintings in the Rijksmuseum
#14 Bonnefantenmuseum
Maastricht | Website | The highlight of Maastricht for art lovers is the Bonnefanten Museum. The modern building with its rocket-shaped tower is a work of art itself and houses an impressive collection of early European and contemporary art.
#15 Van Abbemuseum
Eindhoven | Website| This museum for modern and contemporary art in Brabant is named after founder Henri van Abbe. His private collection formed the basis for the current museum that has thousands of works by international artists, including Picasso, Braque, Chagall, Mondriaan and Kandinsky. In addition to the permanent exhibition, there are changing exhibitions.
