It’s a hugely busy year for exhibitions in the Netherlands in 2025, with major shows planned on everything from sculpture to photography via a sprinkle of Tilda Swinton!
And while there are many very exciting Amsterdam exhibitions coming up, your eyes shouldn't solely be on what's on in the capital. There are blockbusters scheduled in towns and cities right across the country.
So here are nine stand-out Netherlands exhibitions you should see this year.
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4 Amsterdam exhibitions in 2025
Happy Birthday Amsterdam | H'ART Museum
This year marks the 750th anniversary of the founding of the Dutch capital. To celebrate the milestone, this exhibition brings together 75 works artists who have contributed to the colourful image of the city over the centuries.
Unusually for a museum exhibition, there's no chronology or narrative. Rather, the ad hoc nature of the curation reflects the transient and ever-changing nature of creativity in the city. These artworks show the artists who lived, worked and resided in Amsterdam — sometimes their whole lives, sometimes just passing through — who helped craft the city's reputation as a buzzing creative hub that remains strong to this day. From Karel Appel to Marina Abramović, via Johan Cruijff through the eyes of Marlene Dumas. Here's to the next 750!
Now open until 16 March 2025 — hartmuseum.nl
American Photography | Rijksmuseum
This landmark exhibition is, incredibly, the very first comprehensive survey of American photography ever held in Europe. There'll be over 200 photographs on display, inviting visitors to reflect on America’s cultural and social history like never before.
The blockbuster will demonstrate how the medium has permeated every aspect of our lives since its invention: in art, news, advertising and everyday life. There'll be some of the world's biggest names on show, including Nan Goldin, Richard Avedon, Andy Warhol, and Diane Arbus.
Many of the works come from the Rijksmuseum's new photography collection, which has been built up over the past decade, and are being shown for the first time.
Opens 07 February until 09 June 2025 — rijksmuseum.nl
Anselm Kiefer: Sag mir wo die Blumen sind | Van Gogh Museum + Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
This Anselm Kiefer exhibition celebrated the 80th birthday of one of the world's greatest living artists. So it's fitting that this giant of contemporary art gets a giant Amsterdam exhibition that actually is held across two major museums. The Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum will hold this ambitious show together — the first time in their history these next-door neighbours have mounted a joint show.
Visitors will get to discover Kiefer's decades-long fascination with Van Gogh, as well as get a new perspective on his own artistic evolution. A major highlight will be a monumental new frieze created by Kiefer specially for the occasion. Measuring 24m in length, this brand new painting will fill the historic staircase at the Stedelijk.
Opens 07 March until 09 June 2025 — vangoghmuseum.nl | read more on Kiefer's exhibition
Tilda Swinton | Eye Filmmuseum
Oscar-winning British actor Tilda Swinton is creating an "exclusive and immersive" new exhibition for the Netherland's national film museum that will celebrate both co-creation in movie-making and pushing boundaries. Visitors are promised brand new works in a show exploring Swinton's life story, with a particular focus on the artistic collaborations that have been integral to her four-decade career.
It'll be a journey for all the senses, and naturally there'll be an extensive programme of film screenings alongside too. Many of Swinton's leading performances can be revisited, as well events reexamining two of her biggest influences: film-makers Derek Jarman and Joanna Hogg.
Opens 26 September 2025 — eyefilm.nl
Prepare for your visit to Amsterdam by grabbing a copy of the 2024 edition of the Lonely Planet Pocket Guide
5 other Netherlands exhibitions in 2025
New Paris: From Monet to Morisot | Kunstmuseum Den Haag | The Hague
Paris is the focus of this sublime-sounding Impressionist show. 65 paintings from some of the most famous artists of the Impressionist movement will go on display — including Manet, Renoir, Degas, Bazille, Caillebotte, Cassatt, and Morisot. Collectively they will show the evolution of the French capital in the 19th century. It was a time that saw Paris transform into the vibrant city we know today.
The stunning centrepiece will be the landmark showing of three early paintings by Claude Monet. Each painted in 1867 and from a balcony at the Louvre museum, they show views of Paris that symbolise the radical change in the city. This exhibition marks only the second time these three outstanding city-scapes have been together in Europe since their creation.
Opens 15 February until 08 June 2025 — kunstmuseum.nl
The Family of Migrants | Fenix | Rotterdam
Fenix is Rotterdam's newest cultural space and is the first museum that examines the story of migration through contemporary art. When it opens in May, its first temporary exhibition will hone in even further, examining how the movement of people has been captured in photography.
Work by over 130 photographers from around the world will be on display, ranging from the 19th century to today. In all the images, people are depicted moving from their homes — from boarding a train, crossing a border and making a fresh start. The photos are about leaving, sorrow, love, family and hope. Some will be familiar, world-famous images, while others have never been seen in public before.
Opens 16 May 2025 — fenix.nl
Charley Toorop. Love for Van Gogh | Kröller-Müller Museum | Otterlo
Charley Toorop was one of the most distinctive Dutch painters of the 20th century. Daughter of the renowned Symbolist artist Jan Toorop, she grew up surrounded by avant-garde artists which would go on to influence her bold style. Yet there was one artist above all others that drew her admiration: Vincent van Gogh.
This exhibition will display just one van Gogh work amongst over 55 of Toorop's. Yet visitors will come away with a new understanding of the profound way her life and art was shaped by him. With the Kröller-Müller Museum now possessing the largest museum collection of Charley Toorop's work in the world, it's a remarkable chance to see the path of artistic inspiration on the canvases before your eyes.
Opens 24 May until 14 Sep 2025 — krollermuller.nl
Ryan Gander x Edgar Degas: Pas de Deux | Museum Beelden aan Zee | The Hague
One of the world’s most-loved sculptures is coming to this fun and thoughtful Hague exhibition. Degas’ iconic sculpture La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans — or The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer — is one of the most recognisable sculptures of modern art. The work depicts a young ballerina in a restrained and realistic pose.
Here it will be seen with 24 other ballerina sculptures, all created by the British artist Ryan Gander. Since 2008, Gander has been working on a series in which he riffs off Degas’ ballerina. But instead of the 19th century’s air of poise, Gander places his dancer in unexpected or everyday situations. With Gander’s works in constant dialogue with Degas, it’ll produce a show that interrogates the role of art in presenting reality versus fiction.
Opens 20 June 2025 until 04 January 2026 — beeldenaanzee.nl
Cute | Kunsthal Rotterdam
The hit London exhibition of 2024 comes to Rotterdam. Cute — originally hosted at Somerset House — explores the irresistible power of cuteness in contemporary culture. From the origins of kawaii and the emergence of Hello Kitty, to the influence of emojis, internet memes, cuddly toys, and adorable robot designs, it examines how this phenomenon has (and could further still) evolve from a seemingly harmless concept to a major cultural trend.
Visitors can expect AI-generated images, heaps of manga, and a whole room dedicated to cats. But don't just think this is a lightweight show meant to end up on Instagram. The Guardian's critic said it will both "will both entrance and repulse" as it delves into the complexities of cuteness in the internet age.
Opens 05 July until 23 November 2025 — kunsthal.nl
More from the Netherlands: the best museums to visit in the Hague