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Amsterdam is a city with a rich artistic tradition. You will find a wide selection, from the 17th century masters like Rembrandt to impressionism by Van Gogh and to today's conceptual art. The famous museums are mostly specialised in one specific genre of art, most of them being located around one square, called the Museumplein. It's important to know that currently some rebuilding and modernisation of some of the museums is being carried out.

Overview of the Museumplein

The old masters - Rijksmuseum
Right in the middle of the Museumplein a huge 19th century building (inspired by medieval architecture) dominates the square. This is the Rijksmuseum. In this museum you can find classic works of art, by artists like Rembrandt, Vermeer, Frans Hals, etc... The absolute pearl of the collection must be the famous Nightwatch, generally seen as Rembrandt's best work.

The Rijksmuseum is one of the museums that is undergoing its 'biggest rebuilding, renovation and modernisation programme in its history'. Throughout the history of the museum many of the original, beautiful, internal architecture was seen as obsolete and thus removed for the public. Currently they are working on bringing that unique atmosphere back, this will take some time. Check their website for more information about the progress.

The Van Gogh museum
As its name suggests this museum is mainly dedicated to the impressionist Van Gogh. The collection doesn't just show his most famous works, it also shows how his work developed over time. As you may know Van Gogh has had different periods in his life, each with a specific style.

Besides the permanent collection, the Van Gogh Museum also hosts expositions. At this moment, the year of Rembrandt's 400th birthday anniversary, there is an exposition about Rembrandt and the Italian painter Caravaggio. The exposition looks at the similarities and differences between these two famous painters. Check the Van Gogh Museum's exposition's website for more information.

Parallel to the Rembrandt-Caravaggio exposition, the print room in the exhibition wing also presents a similar exposition which brings Rembrandt and Van Gogh together.

Stedelijk Museum / SMCS
The Stedelijk Museum (translated: Urban Museum) hosts exhibitions of contemporary artforms, mostly sculptures and paintings, but also new, digital, artforms. For more information about their current exhibitions it's best to check their website, http://www.stedelijk.nl/. The Stedelijk Museum is originally located on the Museumplein, on walking distance from the Van Gogh- and Rijks-museum. However, this location is currently going through some serious rebuilding, which will take several years. Don't worry though, the Stedelijk has seriously worked on a solution for those years. In the first place they have a temporary new location, which they called the SMCS (Stedelijk Museum Centraal Station), which is very close to the railwaystation Amsterdam Centraal, in the middle of the city. This new location is actually great. It looks a bit worn down from the outside, but they really did a great job on the interior, with help from some great architects. Besides the SMCS they also host expositions in many other museums throughout the Netherlands.

For this article this should be a good introduction to art-museums in Amsterdam. Of course there are many more, but those will be covered in other articles. The three museums I covered in this article are generally seen as the major museums in Amsterdam, so if you are going to visit Amsterdam, I would highly recommend visiting each one of these at least once.

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