Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

About

Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Dutch pronunciation: [myˈzeːjʏm ˈboːimɑns fɑm ˈbøːnɪŋə(n)]) is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from its two most important donors, Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. The museum is located at the Museumpark in the district Rotterdam Centrum, close to the Kunsthal and the Natural History Museum. The museum opened in 1849. Since its inception, the museum has become the home to over 151,000 artworks. In the collection, ranging from medieval to contemporary art, are works of Rembrandt, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Salvador Dalí and specific masterpieces such as the ‘Achilles series’ by Peter Paul Rubens and ‘A Cornfield, in the Background the Zuiderzee’ by Jacob van Ruisdael. In 2013, the museum had 292,711 visitors and was the 14th most visited museum in the Netherlands. In 2018, the last full year before its long-term closure, there were 284,000 visitors. The museum has been closed since mid-2019. In 2024, the council of Rotterdam agreed to an ambitious renovation costing 359m Euros. The museum is finally scheduled to reopen in 2030.

The museum was established in 1849 as Museum Boijmans, housing the collection of Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans (1767–1847). After agreement between the Rotterdam Council and Boijmans, the Schielandshuis was bought by the Council to exhibit the Boijmans collections. The painter and art dealer, Arie Johannes Lamme, was named the museum's first director. Much of the museum's original collection was destroyed in a fire in 1864. The collection started to be rebuilt and with time the Schielandshuis became small to fit the growing number of artworks and visitors of Museum Boijmans. A new museum was therefore built in 1929 and opened in Museumpark in 1935. The building was designed by the city architect Adriaan van der Steur (1893-1953).

The collection of businessman Daniël George van Beuningen (1877–1955) was added in 1958, at which point the museum acquired the name Museum Boymans–Van Beuningen. The spelling was changed to 'Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen' in 1996. A representative of the Dutch Jewish community, Ronny Naftaniel, demanded - without success - the removal of Van Beuningen's name. It was alleged that acquisitions in Van Beuningen's collection has been illegally taken from Jewish owners during the period of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands.

In April 1928, Rotterdam Council decided to support a new building for the collection. This would replace the too small building on the Schiedamsedijk. Within a few months the 35 year old Alexander Van der Steur would be commissioned to design the building, in cooperation with the museum director Dirk Hannema.

After tours of European museums and various experiments during the design process, building started in 1931. It was opened on 6 July 1935. Van der Steur considered it his most important work.

Van der Steur believed a museum should serve as a backdrop for art, prioritizing the display and appreciation of the collection. He saw his architecture as a means to enhance, not overshadow, the art it housed: "When I was able to say: This museum is a background for the artworks, I knew for myself that I had succeeded.

The architect was conscious that museums could be tiring - he aimed to create a space conducive to learning and enjoyment. He designed unobtrusive stairwells and incorporated subtle level changes to minimise visitor fatigue: "Museums are tiring... This effort can become torture if we are subjected to poor lighting, impossible stairs, heavy colours on the walls, and a poor grouping of works of art... Only a building that is truly a good museum can meet this need."

Lighting was also important, Van der Steur conducted extensive light studies to ensure optimal illumination of the artworks. His innovative approach to museum lighting was praised by critics and influenced later projects, including the renovation of the Rijksmuseum in 1952.

The museum's design, with its interconnected courtyards, towers, and interplay of materials, revealed Van der Steur's attention to architectural harmony and symbolism. He justified the tower – a controversial element – as an architectural necessity that draws the eye upward, creating a sense of rhythm and grandeur.

Van der Steur's choice of materials, such as the contrasting sandstone and brick, aimed to create a timeless aesthetic that would age gracefully: "...to reinforce the colour effect with the contrast between the two types of stone: from pure grey via yellow-grey to deep red, topped with a copper gutter."

In 1971, an exhibition wing was added. It was designed by the architect Alexander Bodon (1906-1993) with the purpose of showing temporary exhibitions. In 2003 the Flemish architects Robbrecht en Daem added new galleries to the exhibition wing. The new wing was "like a girdle around Bodon's large rooms. In their galleries they used clear and frosted glass, concrete and parts of the original brick wall. This and the library on the street side are the most recent extensions of the museum until now."

The exhibition building was built with three large flexible spaces that could be reconfigured depending on each exhibitions needs. Bodon created a 'new wing' at a time when modern art literally and figuratively required space. The rooms had white and diffused lighting from above. The view of the garden from the large window gave views which reputedly distracted the attention of some visitors from the art. The ceiling which showed the arts' character with details of design meaning in them.

The Van Beuningen de Vriese Pavilion was built and designed by the Hubert-Jan Henket in 1991 to add the collections from the Beuningen. The pavilion holds the collections of preindustrial household objects. The space of pavilion is very transparent as the building has used the glass and silver-coloured steel roof construction.

The construction of Depot Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen was started in 2017 and was officially opened by king Willem-Alexander on November 5, 2021. It is the world's first fully accessible art depot.

The depot was commissioned to give the visitors a sense of the great size of the collections which can be seen from the central staircase and landings. The ground floor of the depot consists of a welcoming entrance area with coffee corner, and is also used for art handlings. The upper floors are for exhibitions spaces. The atrium gallery, which has a glass roof, contains collections from the old buildings. The building was built with sustainability in mind by architects MVRDV. The depot facade is covered by different types of glass with different color code to make the building flexible with the natural lightings. For example, the facade at the roof terrace is coded with pink glass, which is transparent to afford visitors a view of the city and museum from the roof. The building also has a restaurant (Renilde, named after former curator Renilde Hammacher) and a salon (Coert, named after a former director of the Rotterdam Museum Coert Ebbinge Wubben [ nl ] ).

In April 1928, Rotterdam Council decided to support a new building for the collection. This would replace the too small building on the Schiedamsedijk. Within a few months the 35 year old Alexander Van der Steur would be commissioned to design the building, in cooperation with the museum director Dirk Hannema.

After tours of European museums and various experiments during the design process, building started in 1931. It was opened on 6 July 1935. Van der Steur considered it his most important work.

Van der Steur believed a museum should serve as a backdrop for art, prioritizing the display and appreciation of the collection. He saw his architecture as a means to enhance, not overshadow, the art it housed: "When I was able to say: This museum is a background for the artworks, I knew for myself that I had succeeded.

The architect was conscious that museums could be tiring - he aimed to create a space conducive to learning and enjoyment. He designed unobtrusive stairwells and incorporated subtle level changes to minimise visitor fatigue: "Museums are tiring... This effort can become torture if we are subjected to poor lighting, impossible stairs, heavy colours on the walls, and a poor grouping of works of art... Only a building that is truly a good museum can meet this need."

Lighting was also important, Van der Steur conducted extensive light studies to ensure optimal illumination of the artworks. His innovative approach to museum lighting was praised by critics and influenced later projects, including the renovation of the Rijksmuseum in 1952.