Rijksmuseum stages Willem de Kooning at work on 9 October
Published on 09/27/2026 at 10:38 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam will present Willem de Kooning at work from 9 October 2026, with the exhibition running until 17 January 2027. The museum, known locally as the Rijksmuseum, is the venue for a survey of the artist's drawings, paintings and sculptures.
Willem de Kooning at work begins on 9 October
The exhibition opens on 9 October 2026 and remains on view through 17 January 2027. The Rijksmuseum says the presentation will include more than 120 works, making drawing the central route through de Kooning's artistic development.
The show follows de Kooning from his departure from Rotterdam to his later career in New York. Alongside the main exhibition, Woman I and Woman and Bicycle will be displayed in the Gallery of Honour. The paintings will therefore appear within the museum's presentation of Dutch art, rather than in a separate venue. The official exhibition programme gives the dates and the collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago and The Willem de Kooning Foundation in New York.
An independent exhibition listing also places the presentation at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam from 9 October 2026 to 17 January 2027.
Rijksmuseum connects modern art with its historic galleries
The exhibition arrives in a building whose own history reaches back to the nineteenth century. Pierre Cuypers designed the museum in a historicising style that combines Gothic and Renaissance elements. Construction began in 1876, and the building officially opened in 1885.
The date gives the de Kooning exhibition a specific setting: a twentieth-century artist's work will be presented inside a museum created for the Netherlands' national collections in the nineteenth century. During the latest major renovation, from 2003 to 2013, the building was restored to Cuypers' original architectural plan.
The museum's collection also connects the new exhibition with the history of Dutch painting. The Rijksmuseum's account of its development records the move of the national collections to Amsterdam in 1808 and the later arrival of important works from the city's older collections. The building now presents painting, applied arts and history in a chronological story from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century.
Operation Night Watch remains visible during the exhibition
Visitors arriving for the de Kooning exhibition will also encounter ongoing work in the Night Watch Gallery. The museum's 2026 programme says that the Operation Night Watch team is working in a glass chamber while removing old varnish from Rembrandt's painting.
This creates a second point of connection between the temporary exhibition and the permanent collection. De Kooning's works will occupy the scheduled exhibition programme, while Rembrandt's masterpiece remains part of a publicly visible research and restoration project.
Visiting Rijksmuseum: what travellers from Western Europe should know
- Willem de Kooning at work is scheduled at the Rijksmuseum from 9 October 2026 to 17 January 2027.
- The programme places Woman I and Woman and Bicycle in the Gallery of Honour alongside the exhibition.
- The Night Watch Gallery contains a glass chamber where the Operation Night Watch team is removing old varnish from Rembrandt's painting.
- The venue is the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in the building designed by Pierre Cuypers and opened in 1885.
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Frequently asked questions about Rijksmuseum
When does Willem de Kooning at work take place at Rijksmuseum?
The exhibition begins on 9 October 2026 and runs until 17 January 2027.
What is Rijksmuseum?
Rijksmuseum is the national museum in Amsterdam, housed in a building designed by Pierre Cuypers and officially opened in 1885.
Where is Rijksmuseum and how do you get there?
Rijksmuseum is in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The exhibition and the Night Watch Gallery are both part of the museum's programme during the period beginning 9 October 2026.
