Rijksmuseum and Galleria Borghese present Metamorphoses

Publication date: 20 October 2025 - 13:14

Passion and desire, lust and jealousy, cunning and deceit — few classical texts have stirred the imagination of artists as deeply as Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In the eponymous exhibition artists as Bernini, Titian, Correggio, Cellini, Caravaggio, Rubens, Rodin, Brancusi, Magritte, and Bourgeois rival the imaginative power and artistic vision of one of Antiquity’s greatest poets. Over 80 masterpieces will be brought together from museums and collections worldwide. This exceptional exhibition has been developed through close collaboration between the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and Galleria Borghese in Rome.

The exhibition runs from 6 February to 25 May 2026 at the Rijksmuseum. It will be presented – in a different configuration – at Galleria Borghese from 22 June to 20 September 2026. Metamorphoses is made possible in part by The Bennink Foundation, Blockbusterfonds, Rijksmuseum International Circle, Rijksmuseum Patrons and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

Highlights

Metamorphoses brings together more than 80 highlights from international collections. The works include Bernini's Sleeping Hermaphroditus from Musée du Louvre, Titian’s Danaë, painted for King Philip II of Spain; Tintoretto’s Minerva and Arachne; Correggio’s iconic Jupiter and Io, as well as Danaë (all painted for the Duke of Mantua); Caravaggio’s Narcissus; and Rodin’s marble Pygmalion and Galatea, presented alongside Gérôme’s painting of the subject. Three of Arcimboldo’s composite, grotesque faces will also be on display. In addition, the life-size bronze Perseus with the Head of Medusa, made by the Dutch artist Hubert Gerhardt for the Duke of Bavaria, will be shown for the first time together with its model, the prototype for Cellini’s famous work of the same title.

The exhibition presents art from across the centuries in a variety of media, with painting, sculpture, precious metalwork and ceramics, as well as contemporary photography and video art.

Bible for artists

Very few texts from antiquity have inspired as many artists as Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid, 43 BCE–17 CE). In this monumental epic, he described a world filled with transformations of gods and humans into animals, plants or stones. It is with good reason that, in his 1604 Schilder-boeck, Karel van Mander described the work as a ‘Bible for artists’. This was by no means an exaggeration: after the Bible, Metamorphoses remained for centuries one of the most important and inexhaustible sources for painters, sculptors, engravers, composers, writers and poets. Its influence persists to this day.

Metamorphoses

‘All things change, but nothing dies’ is the message Ovid conveys in Metamorphoses, his narrative poem in which gods become animals, nymphs are transformed into trees, humans turn to stone, and stones become human. Many of the stories it contains explore interactions between gods and mortals, with love playing a major role – far from always with mutual consent. Violence and treachery also recur throughout the stories. The exhibition highlights the depiction of several iconic fables. They include the creation of the cosmos and the world from formless chaos; the story of the weaver Arachne, who is transformed by the jealous goddess Minerva into a spider to weave her webs for all eternity; and the affairs of Jupiter, the chief god, who repeatedly disguises himself – as a bull, a swan, in a shroud of mist, or as a shower of gold – to deceive his jealous wife Juno and his victims.

Book

Produced in partnership with Galleria Borghese and Hannibal Books, the exhibition catalogue will be available in three languages: Dutch, English and Italian. It discusses all the works in both exhibitions, and includes essays by Dutch and Italian specialists. Graphic design by Irma Boom Office.

ISBN 978 94 9341 654 3
€40

Exhibition design

The designer of the exhibition at the Rijksmuseum is Aldo Bakker, who previously designed Small Wonders (2017) and Asian Bronze (2024) for the museum.

Programme

Audio tour
Sir Stephen Fry brings the stories of the Metamorphoses to life and focuses on how artists have interpreted these myths.
Free in the Rijksmuseum app.

Concert Series – Metamorphoses in Music
The series explores the theme of metamorphosis in music and shows how, across the centuries, composers have been inspired by Ovid and by the idea of transformation.

Concert I – Philip Glass: Metamorphosis
Performer: Lavinia Meijer
1 March 2026, 15.30–16.30, €10 (excl. entrance to the museum)
Concert II – The Metamorphosis of a Flute
Performers: Itai Weissman (EWI), Kate Clark (flute), Sara Brink-Nielsen (harp), Sahand Sahebdivani (storytelling)
22 March 2026, 15.30–16.30, €10 (excl. entrance to the museum)
Concert III – Voicing Metamorphoses
Performers: STILE GALANTE – Valeria La Grotta (soprano), Agnieszka Oszanca (cello), Andrea Friggi (harpsichord), Stefano Aresi (artistic director and narrator)
12 April 2026, 15.30–16.30, €10 (excl. entrance to the museum)
Concert IV – Richard Strauss: Metamorphosen
Performers: Musicians of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
17 May 2026, 15.30–16.30, €10 (excl. entrance to the museum)

Rijksmuseum After Hours: Metamorphoses
Night at the museum for young adults
Friday 27 March

Images of the galleries