Taco Dibbits (Amsterdam, 7 September 1968) has been the Rijksmuseum’s General Director since 2016. He studied art history at VU University Amsterdam and the University of Cambridge, joining the Rijksmuseum in 2002 as a curator of 17th-century painting. In 2006 he was appointed Head of Fine and Decorative Arts, and two years later he became the museum's Director of Collections. Prior to joining the Rijksmuseum, he was the director of the Old Masters department at Christie’s in London. Since joining the Rijksmuseum, Mr Dibbits has played a key role in developing the layout of the new Rijksmuseum, guiding the museum’s acquisition activities and establishing the exhibition programme.

Ancillary activities

  • Chairman of the Board Mr. J.H. de Pont Stichting
  • Chairman of the Board Stichting France-Nederland Cultuurfonds
  • Member Executive Committee Bizot Group
  • Member of the board Vereniging Rembrandt
  • Member of the board Fondazione Paul Thorel
  • Member of the Advisory Board Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap (KOG) (q.q.)
  • Member of the Advisory Board Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  • Member of the Supervisory Board Amstel 218 (q.q.)
  • Member of the Curatorium Chair Molecular spectroscopy with particular application to “Chemistry and conservation of paint and paintings” Stichting John van Geuns Fonds (UvA)
  • Member of the Recommendation Committee exhibition Kees van Dongen. Durf en verleiding (Singer Laren, januari-mei 2023)
  • Member of the Recommendation Committee New Holland Foundation (Stichting voor Nederlands Erfgoed Overzee)
  • Member of the Recommendation Committee renovation Amsterdam Museum
  • Member of the Recommendation Committee Leids Zilver
  • Member of the Recommendation Committee innovation Museum Prinsenhof Delft
  • Member of the Recommendation Committee publication parts III-VI of Dr. S.A.C. Dudok van Heel, Van Amsterdamse burgers tot Europese aristocraten
  • Member UNESCO Emergency Group for Museums in Ukraine
  • Friend Foundation for Jewish Heritage
  • Director Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen, Haarlem

Publications

  • ‘De Clercq in Amerika en Nederland’, in: Michiel Plomp e.a., From New York with Love, The drawings collection of Matthijs de Clercq, Haarlem 2010;
  • [met I. Verslype en A. Wallert] ‘Paulus Potters Herders met vee: Rijksmuseum versus Woburn Abbey’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 56 (2008), pp. 66-81;
  • ‘Portretten van Adriana Croes, Eduard Wallis, Maria van Strijp en Dirck, Jacobus of Johannes Wallis door Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck (Haarlem 1600/03-1662, Haarlem)’, Bulletin van de Vereniging Rembrandt 18 (zomer 2008), pp. 22-25;
  • ‘Adolf en Catharina Croeser aan de Oude Delft, bekend als ‘Een burgemeester van Delft en zijn dochter’, A Farewell to Ronald de Leeuw. His favourite acquisitions for the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 2008, pp. 40-41;
  • ‘Abraham Willaerts’, Buitengaats. Vierentwintig verhalen over havens, pp. 117-120; ‘Caspar de Crayer’, Disegni fiamminghi e olandesi del Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, Florence (Uffizi) 2008 (ter perse);
  • J. Bikker e.a., Dutch paintings of the seventeenth century in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Volume I – Artists born between 1570 and 1600, Amsterdam 2007, diverse entry’s;
  • ‘Girolamo Muziano, A Prophet’, In Arte Venustas. Studies on Drawings in Honour of Terèz Gerzsi, Budapest 2007, pp. 40-41;
  • cat. tent. ‘The Milkmaid’, Milkmaid by Vermeer and Dutch Genre Painting. Masterworks from the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Tokio (The National Art Centre) 2007, pp. 4-13;
  • cat. tent. Jan van der Heyden (1637-1712), Greenwich, Connecticut (Bruce Museum), Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2006-2007 (catalogusteksten);
  • cat. tent. Rembrandt, ein Genie auf der Suche, Berlijn (Gemäldegalerie) 2006 (catalogusteksten);
  • cat. tent. Rembrandt Caravaggio, Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum en Van Gogh Museum) 2006 (catalogusteksten);
  • 'De Doornenkroning', Bulletin van de Vereniging Rembrandt, 16 (2006), pp. 24-27; 'Ooit Rembrandts 'vermaarde schilderij': de receptiegeschiedenis van Heilige Familie bij avond', Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum, 54 (2006), pp. 100-121;
  • ‘Girolamo Muziano: A standing female figure in profile’, Disegno, giudizio e bella maniera. Studi sul disegno italiano in onore di Catherine Monbeig Goguel, Milaan 2005, pp. 96-97, no. 48;
  • ‘Abraham-Louis-Rodolphe Ducros, 1748-1810’, Puglia romantica. Città, paesaggi e costumi nelle stampe tra Sette e Ottocento, ed. M. Congedo, Lecce 2005, pp. 36-46; ‘Aardbeien, abrikozen, kruisbessen en perziken: vier stillevens van Adriaen Coorte’, Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum 52 (2004), pp.137-152;
  • cat. tent. Ritratti di gruppo da Van Dyck a De Chirico, Rome (Palazzo Venezia) 2003/4, (catalogusteksten);
  • cat. tent. ‘Rembrandt’s “Celebrated Picture”, Rembrandt and the Rembrandt School, Tokio (The National Museum of Western Art) 2003, pp. 23-31;
  • ‘Figure studies by Muziano’, Drawings by and after Michelangelo: Challenge and Response, ed. F. Ames-Lewis and P. Joannides, Cambridge (ter perse);
  • ‘Pellegrino Tibaldi in Ancona. Two new drawings in red chalk’, Apollo, 148 (november 1998), pp. 30-32;
  • coll. cat. Dutch Drawings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: Artists born between 1580 and 1600, ed. M. Schapelhouman, Amsterdam/Londen 1998 (catalogusteksten);
  • cat. tent. Italian Drawings from the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, ed. B.W. Meijer, Florence/Londen 1995 (catalogusteksten);
  • cat. tent. Luoghi di delizia. Un Grand Tour olandese nelle immagini di Louis Ducros, 1778, Florence 1994.