Friends Tours

Every month we organize tours exclusively for Friends. All these tours are Dutch spoken. Below you can find more information on the monthly topics.

January and February - THE BEST OF THE RIJKSMUSEUM – WINTEREDITION

The Rijksmuseum is filled with masterpieces, and no matter how many times you may have visited the museum, you never get tired of a masterpiece. In this tour, let yourself be surprised by the winter-themed works in the collection. From winter porcelain and frozen canals to portraits on ice and the woolly hats of Smeerenburg. And what about the women's ice-skating competition of 1809? Of course, Avercamp and Nova Zembla cannot be missed.

March - BUT WHERE WERE THE WOMEN?

Who are the women in Dutch art and history? This tour travels along important female artists from all times in the Rijksmuseum collection. Think of Judith Leyster, Thérèse Schwartze, and Catharina van Hemessen, among others. They have been overlooked for a long time. But their influence should not be underestimated. That's why we highlight their stories of creativity, ambition, and perseverance in this tour.

April and May - Fashion the 17th Century

June - Botanical tour

July - Carel Visser in the Rijksmuseum gardens

August - THE BEST OF THE RIJKSMUSEUM - SUMMER EDITION

The Rijksmuseum is filled with masterpieces from top to bottom. And no matter how many times you may have visited the museum, you never get tired of a masterpiece. This month, we dive into summer, which is also fully present within the museum walls. Be surprised by the summery works in the collection during this tour. From 17th-century country estates and summer landscapes to the 19th-century sea scenes by Jozef Israëls and Jan Toorop. Time for a refreshing dive into our collection.

September - Rijksmuseum & Slavery

Many of the works in the Rijksmuseum’s permanent collection have links with the Netherlands’ slavery past. It’s a relationship you probably won’t notice at first glance, and one you won’t read about on the museum label next to the object: from the nutmeg harvested by enslaved people, to an enslaved woman shipped off to the Netherlands; from the image of a dance party on a Surinamese plantation that hides critical messages about the slaveholder, to the pulpit from which an 18th-century legal philosopher made the case for abolishing slavery.

October - Who was Rembrandt?

Rembrandt is the undisputed star of Dutch 17th-century painting and one of the most famous artists of all time. But who was he and why is he so high profile? The Rijksmuseum boasts the largest collection of Rembrandt’s work in the world, ranging from his rebellious self-portrait as a 20-year-old to his highly experimental Night Watch. What does his work tell us about him as a human being and his life? Get ready for a roller-coaster ride...

November - ART FROM THE KITCHEN

Take a culinary journey through time with this tour! Our food and drinks have been a beloved subject to capture for centuries. From the grand still lifes in the Gallery of Honour to our Instagram photos of today's meals. What we eat says something about who we are, but also about where we live. The 17th and 18th centuries meant a true culinary revolution for the Netherlands. With new ingredients like lemon, cloves, and tea, boundaries were pushed. This tour provides a peek into the kitchen of that time.

December - Surprise!