THE HAGUE.- Kunstmuseum Den Haag is pulling out the stops and celebrating its collection in a big way. This year, to mark its 160th anniversary, the museum is presenting its unique foundation in a new light. From 10 October, undisputed crowd-pleasers will return in the revamped presentation KM (New) Icons and the world’s largest collection of Mondrians will settle into a prominent new spot in the Berlage building. During the special opening weekend on 10 and 11 October, the museum will be celebrating this collection of, for and by The Hague. On Saturday 10 October, the museum will open its doors to the city, offering free admission. This is the prelude to a completely transformed museum at the end of 2026, in which the museum showcases everything it has to offer. Once Blue Loves You: The Magic of Delftware opens in late November, the entire museum will be dedicated to this world-class collection found in The Hague.
Visitor favourites and new icons
What makes a work iconic today – and tomorrow? For the first time since Discover the Modern opened in 2012, Kunstmuseum Den Haag is re-examining the full breadth of its collection. Icons from various disciplines – modern art, photography, fashion, contemporary and applied art – will be displayed in the context of new acquisitions and pieces that have only rarely been shared with the public.
Because iconic status is always subject to change. An innovator can become a classic mainstay and a formerly unknown maker can claim a place for themselves in art history. Charley Toorop, Paula Rego, Vincent van Gogh, Louise Bourgeois, Christian Dior, Erwin Olaf and many others dazzle the senses in a revamped presentation that shows how a collection is perpetually in a state of flux. And at the same time, the museum hopes to spark dialogue with the public about what it means to be ‘an icon’.
Chasing the Dot
Following its sensational dbut at Lowlands, Chasing the Dot: Ganzfeld = Wavefield, presented by the Kunstmuseum, the newly acquired work Chasing the Dot: In Hague will be given a permanent place in KM (New) Icons. This work by Hague-based artist Philip Vermeulen offers a mind-blowing experience that immerses the visitor in waves of light, colour and sound while exploring the outer limits of perception.
Home of Mondrian
With nearly 300 paintings and drawings, Kunstmuseum Den Haag manages the largest collection of Mondrians in the world. For the first time in 15 years, visitors will be reintroduced to one of modern art’s most important pioneers in the redesigned multisensory exhibition Mondrian & The road to abstraction. What makes this collection unique is how it allows the public to chart the artist’s revolutionary journey to abstraction: from ‘the red tree’ to his final masterpiece, Victory Boogie Woogie. Mondrian’s network – and particularly his involvement with De Stijl – is extensively visualised through paintings, furniture and maquettes. Visitors will be able to see and smell how Mondrian and his contemporaries worked to create optimistic art for a brighter future. Iconic works by artists including Gerrit Rietveld, Theo Van Doesburg and Bart Van der Leck will be displayed. The museum will also reveal how a number of artists who to whom historians have paid little attention, such as Jacoba van Heemskerck and Marlow Moss, exerted a major influence on Mondrian’s work.
In this anniversary year, we are turning optimistic eyes to the future. We will most likely close for renovations in 2030 – but before that, we still have three years of full opening hours, during which we hope to share The Hague’s world-class collection with one and all. The Hague, this collection belongs to you! Come visit on 10 and 11 October and join us in celebrating 160 years of the Kunstmuseum collection.
Margriet Schavemaker - General Director
100% collection
In the first half of 2026, the museum presented new perspectives in Reflections on Fashion and Base Line – Music Meets Art, in which its collections of fashion and musical instruments were linked to contemporary makers. The stairwells have been enriched with murals by three artists, existing in dialogue with both the Berlage building and the collection. The series Mix & Match asked contemporary makers to reflect on the collection – with surprising exhibitions as a result. Fotomuseum Den Haag recently opened The Liberated Camera, an exhibition dedicated to the phenomenal photographer Eva Besny. It features some 200 photos from the largest Besny collection in the world. Blue Loves You, a long-running exhibition dedicated to one of the largest collections of Delftware in the world, is scheduled to open on 28 November.
Ex Hibited
The recently opened Ex Hibited will focus on historian Iris Tjoa’s investigation into a newly acquired work: Bust of a woman from Java. In today’s world, how should we present a sculpture of a person who was once themselves put on display during the colonial period? Artist Joseph Mendes da Costa created this portrait of a woman whose name has been lost to history. In the summer of 1898, during the Dutch National Exhibition of Women’s Labour, she was exhibited in a human zoo on the fairgrounds. This ‘Kampong Insulinde’ was within walking distance of where the Kunstmuseum now stands.
Looking ahead
There is a great deal to look forward to in 2027 as well: the remarkable Batik collection will take centre stage this spring, while in the autumn, Mondrian’s final masterpieces Victory Boogie Woogie and Broadway Boogie Woogie will be reunited in a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition, organised in cooperation with the MoMA.
