Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen has had a strong bond with collectors since it was founded in 1849, and its collection owes its diversity to 1.700 private collectors. The museum takes its name from two important collectors, Frans Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen, who enriched the collection with many masterpieces. The museum collects across a broad spectrum, seeking out iconic works that make indelible impressions.

The collection’s international orientation is remarkable right across the board – the collections of paintings and sculptures, drawings and prints, modern and applied art, pre-industrial artefacts and applied art all have works from around the world. The collections of drawings and prints and Impressionist and Surrealist works are among the finest in the world.

The Old Masters are represented by great artists including Van Eyck, Bosch, Bruegel, Fra Angelico, Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens and Van Dyck. The collection of Impressionist works contains masterpieces by Monet, Cézanne, Pissarro, Renoir and Degas, and by Dutch masters like Van Gogh and Breitner. Expressionism is represented by Kokoschka, Van Dongen, Munch, Beckmann and many more. The museum has one of the largest Surrealist collections in Europe with outstanding works by Dalí and Magritte. Post-1945 art, including Minimal Art, Pop Art and Cobra, is also well represented.

The collection of 151.000 works is the departure point for all the activities the museum undertakes. From this extraordinarily rich palette the curators make creative associations between the different art disciplines and centuries. A work of art takes on meaning when it is studied, researched and shown with other works – then it becomes part of a larger story. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s eclectic collection presents an infinite number of possibilities.