Museum Boijmans van Beuningen

Unprecedented collection of a wide variety of art forms

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen has a dazzling collection of about 140,000 pieces of art. This amazing collection includes many great works of old masters, modern and contemporary art, drawings and prints, applied art and design, and a city collection.

The museum was founded by lawyer F.J.O. Boijmans in 1841, which was completed by the collection of shipping magnate D.G. Van Beuningen in 1958. Van Beuningen brought Brueghel’s famous painting ‘The Tower of Babel’ to the collection.

The Old Art collection contains works made by artists before the 1850, including works by Van Eyck, Rubens and Rembrandt. The Modern Art collection consists of works of artists born after 1850, including works by Monet, Kandinsky, Warhole and Dalí. This last collection also contains many drawings and prints, which are taken up in the library.

The Applied Art and Design collection contains medieval china and valuable decorative items from the Golden Age. The oldest work of art dates back to the 11th century. In addition, the museum has a special collection with works produced by Dutch artists and designers from Rotterdam, such as Hella Jongerius and Kees van Dongen.

The museum has a permanent collection of 3,000 works, and organizes around 25 temporary exhibitions every year. The extremely large and varied collection of art remains unprecedented in Rotterdam.