More than 120 works by Willem de Kooning go on display at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum from 9 October, alongside works by Dutch masters including Van Gogh and Rembrandt. “Willem de Kooning at work” runs until 17 January 2027. It’s the biggest European exhibition of his work in more than 40 years.
A Return to the Netherlands
De Kooning left for New York on a cargo ship about 100 years before the exhibition. Now the Rijksmuseum brings his work back to the Netherlands, where visitors will see it alongside works by artists including Van Gogh and Rembrandt. The announcement presents the display as a return through his art; it doesn’t describe the circumstances of his departure or his journey beyond noting that he travelled on a cargo ship.
The exhibition opens on 9 October and remains on view until 17 January 2027. The Rijksmuseum stands in Amsterdam, and the show includes more than 120 works by De Kooning. The available information doesn’t identify the individual works or say how many pieces by Van Gogh or Rembrandt will appear alongside them.
From New York to Modern Art
De Kooning belonged to a group of New York artists who pioneered Abstract Expressionism in the 1930s and 1940s. He later became an iconic figure in modern art. The exhibition places his career in a Dutch museum, connecting an artist who left the Netherlands with the country’s artistic collections and history.
The title, “Willem de Kooning at work,” puts the artist at the center. The available information doesn’t detail the exhibition’s layout, the themes assigned to particular rooms, or the range of materials among the more than 120 works. It also doesn’t say whether the exhibition includes interpretive material about De Kooning’s move to New York.
The Exhibition in Context
The Rijksmuseum calls its presentation the largest European exhibition of De Kooning’s work in more than 40 years. It brings his work into the same exhibition as Dutch masters Van Gogh and Rembrandt, while linking De Kooning to the New York artists associated with the development of Abstract Expressionism in the 1930s and 1940s.
The announcement gives no figures on immigration, population change, or border policy, and describes no government or European Union decision. Its account of movement between countries is limited to De Kooning’s departure for New York on a cargo ship about 100 years before the exhibition and the Rijksmuseum’s display of his work in the Netherlands. The central facts are his art’s return to a Dutch venue, the scale of the show, and its place among the museum’s presentations of major artists.
“Willem de Kooning at work” opens on 9 October and closes on 17 January 2027. More than 120 works will appear in Amsterdam, in the largest European exhibition of his work in more than 40 years.