The collection of the Rijksmuseum was built over a period of 200 years and did not originate from a royal collection incorporated into a national museum. Its origins were modest, with its collection fitting into five rooms at the
Huis ten Bosch palace in The Hague. Although the seventeenth century was beginning to be recognized as the key period in Dutch art, the museum did not then hold paintings by Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Johannes Vermeer, or Jacob van Ruisdael. The collection was built up by purchase and donation. Napoleon had carried off the stadholder's collection to Paris; the paintings were returned to The Netherlands in 1815 but housed in the
Mauritshuis in The Hague rather than the Rijksmuseum. With the founding of the Rijksmuseum in 1885, holdings from other entities were brought together to establish the Rijksmuseum's major collections.
18th century (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.
19th century 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. 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 for the
sculptures, 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. 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.
21st century 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. 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. On 13 January 2026, the Rijksmuseum announced plans for a new sculpture garden with three pavilions and works by
Henry Moore,
Alberto Giacometti, and
Louise Bourgeois, among others. The new garden will be funded by the Don Quixote Foundation, as well as providing long-term loans of works for the garden. The museum hopes it will open in autumn 2026.
List of directors and museum director
Wim Pijbes in 2013 •
Cornelis Sebille Roos • (1873–1883) •
Frederik Daniël Otto Obreen (1883–1896) •
Barthold Willem Floris van Riemsdijk (1897–1921) •
Frederik Schmidt-Degener (1921–1941) •
David Röell (1945–1959) •
Arthur F.E. van Schendel (1959–1975) •
Simon Levie (1975–1989) •
Ronald de Leeuw (1996–2008) •
Wim Pijbes (2008–2016) •
Taco Dibbits (2016–present) == Building ==