Rijksmuseum

Isaac Gogel (1765–1821)

In 1795, the Batavian Republic was proclaimed; its Minister of Finance Isaac Gogel argued that a national museum, following the French example of The Louvre, would serve the national interest. On 19 November 1798, the government decided to found the museum.[1][18]

On 31 May 1800, the National Art Gallery (Dutch: Nationale Kunst-Galerij), precursor of the Rijksmuseum, opened in Huis ten Bosch in The Hague. The museum exhibited around 200 paintings and historic objects from the collections of the Dutch stadtholders.[1][18] In 1805, the National Art Gallery moved within The Hague to the Prince William V Gallery, on the Buitenhof.[1] In 1806, the Kingdom of Holland was established by Napoleon Bonaparte. On the orders of king Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, the museum moved to Amsterdam in 1808. Paintings owned by that city, such as The Night Watch by Rembrandt, became part of the collection. In 1809, the museum opened in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam.[1]

In 1817, the museum moved to the Trippenhuis. The Trippenhuis turned out to be unsuitable as a museum. In 1820, the historical objects were moved to the Mauritshuis in The Hague and in 1838, the 19th-century paintings "of living masters" were moved to King Louis Bonaparte's former summer palace Paviljoen Welgelegen in Haarlem.[1]

In 1863, there was a design contest for a new building for the Rijksmuseum, but none of the submissions was considered to be of sufficient quality. Pierre Cuypers also participated in the contest and his submission reached the second place.[20]

In 1876, a new contest was held and this time Pierre Cuypers won. The design was a combination of gothic and renaissance elements. The construction began on 1 October 1876. On both the inside and the outside, the building was richly decorated with references to Dutch art history. Another contest was held for these decorations. The winners were B. van Hove and Frantz Vermeylen for the sculptures, Georg Sturm for the tile panels} and painting and W.F. Dixon for the stained glass. The museum was opened at its new location on 13 July 1885.[20]

In 1890, a new building was added a short distance to the south-west of the Rijksmuseum. As the building was made out of fragments of demolished buildings, the building offers an overview of the history of Dutch architecture and has come to be known informally as the 'fragment building'. It is also known as the 'south wing' and is currently (in 2013) branded the Philips Wing.

In 1906, the hall for The Night Watch was rebuilt.[20] In the interior more changes were made between the 1920s and 1950s – most multi-coloured wall decorations were painted over. In the 1960s exposition rooms and several floors were built into the two courtyards. The building had some minor renovations and restorations in 1984, 1995–1996 and 2000.[21]

A renovation of the south wing of the museum, also known as the 'fragment building' or 'Philips Wing', was completed in 1996, the same year that the museum held its first major photography exhibition featuring its extensive collection of 19th-century photos.[22]

The atrium after the renovation in 2013

French President Emmanuel Macron with members of the French and Dutch governments at the Rijksmuseum in 2023

In December 2003, the main building of the museum closed for a major renovation. During this renovation, about 400 objects from the collection were on display in the 'fragment building', including Rembrandt's The Night Watch and other 17th-century masterpieces.[23]

The restoration and renovation of the Rijksmuseum are based on a design by Spanish architects Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz. Many of the old interior decorations were restored and the floors in the courtyards were removed. The renovation would have initially taken five years, but was delayed and eventually took almost ten years to complete. The renovation cost €375 million.[14]

The reconstruction of the building was completed on 16 July 2012. In March 2013, the museum's main pieces of art were moved back from the 'fragment building' (Philips Wing) to the main building. The Night Watch returned to the Night Watch Room, at the end of the Hall of Fame. On 13 April 2013, the main building was reopened by Queen Beatrix.[13] On 1 November 2014, the Philips Wing reopened with the exhibition Modern Times: Photography in the 20th Century.

Queen Beatrix and museum director Wim Pijbes in 2013

• Cornelis Sebille Roos[1]
• Cornelis Apostool (1808–1844)[1]
• Jan Willem Pieneman (1844–1847)[24]
• Johann Wilhelm Kaiser (1873–1883)
• Frederik Daniël Otto Obreen (1883–1896)[25]
• Barthold Willem Floris van Riemsdijk (1897–1921)[26]
• Frederik Schmidt-Degener (1921–1941)[27]
• David Röell (1945–1959)[28]
• Arthur F.E. van Schendel (1959–1975)[29]
• Simon Levie (1975–1989)[29]
• Henk van Os (1989–1996)[30]
• Ronald de Leeuw (1996–2008)[31]
• Wim Pijbes (2008–2016)[32]
• Taco Dibbits (2016–present)[33]

in 2019, to mark the 350th anniversary of the artist's death, the museum mounted an exhibition of all the works by Rembrandt in its collection. Consisting of 22 paintings, 60 drawings and over 300 prints, this was the first time they had all been exhibited together. Principal features were the marriage portraits of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit along with the presentation of the Night Watch immediately before its planned restoration. The exhibition ran from February to June.[40]

After previous temporary exhibitions on art historical themes, the Rijksmuseum in 2021 presented an exhibition on the history of slavery in the Dutch colonial Empire, with more than a million people forced into slavery.[41] It covered trans-Atlantic slavery from the 17th to the 19th century in Suriname, Brazil and the Caribbean, as well as Dutch colonial slavery in South Africa and Asia, where the Dutch West India Company (WIC) and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) were engaged in slavery. Besides objects, such as a wooden block for locking slaves, paintings, archival documents, oral sources, poems and music, the exhibition also presented connections of the slavery system at home in the Netherlands.[42] In the permanent collection, labels were added to 77 paintings and objects that had been seen as symbols of the country's wealth and power to indicate previously hidden links to slavery.[43]

The exhibition was presented both physically in the museum from May to August 2021 and in an online version.[44] It was complemented by audio tours and videos relating personal and real-life stories[45] as well as an accompanying book titled Slavery.[46]

From 10 February until June 2023 the Rijksmuseum began to exhibit the biggest collection of Vermeers ever, with 28 of the known 37 works on display. Curator Pieter Roelofs called it a "once in a lifetime" event.[47][48] All time slot reservations were quickly sold out.[49]