I stayed the night in London, ready for the early train to Paris in the morning. Ate my M&S sandwich bed-picnic, posted Notsits (they call them Cheese Tasters, I don’t) into my mouth as I stared at the television. I hadn’t realised how tired I was, until I was sitting in a room with nothing to do, but sleep. The fire alarm put at end to that at 1am, and although I did go back to sleep, I was treated to an abundance of alarm-related dreams; cooker timers, security alarms, and then, 5am morning wake up alarm – not a dream.
Still, I was excited to get going. I prepped my limited Dutch language skills, dank je wel and asseblief (not a sleep-deprived delusion, promise!) put on my coat, and headed into the cold dark rain.
Some tea and pastries later, and we were walking out into the crisp grey daylight. Winter in Paris, and a day with brilliant people at Atelier Néerlandais finding out what’s to come from the Dutch museums and galleries in 2025.
So much to see, and I really could recommend it all, but here are a few of my favourites that I really hope to visit myself (come with me!)
- New Paris – From Monet to Morisot / Feb 14 – Jun 09 2025 / Kunstmuseum Den Haag. In 1867, Claude Monet painted three views of Paris from the balcony of the Louvre. Monet captured the randomness of life on the streets, depicting the new face of the city. Kunstmuseum Den Haag will present these three works together in the Netherlands for the first time, in this exhibition of 65 works from French Impressionism, exploring the social upheavals of late 19th-century Paris.
- Alessandra Sanguinetti – The Adventures of Guille and Belinda / 15 Feb – 09 Jun 2025 / Kunsthal Rotterdam. Magnum photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti has followed the lives of the Argentinian cousins Guillermina Aranciaga and Belinda Stutz for over 20 years. The exhibition will show nearly 50 photographs from the chance-encounter turned long-term project, capturing the dreams, struggles, and harsh realities of the girls’ rural lives.
- Revoir Paris. Paris Through the Lens of the Séeberger Brothers (1900-1907) / 15 Feb – 22 Jun 2025 / Huis Marseille, Amsterdam. This exhibition brings together images made by the three brothers, for the four amateur photography competitions organised by the city of Paris at the beginning of the 20th century. Revealing the beginnings of street photography, and showcasing classic views of the city, they’ve never been shown in such large numbers before.
- Ryan Gander X Edgar Degas: Pas de Deux / 20 Jun 2025 – 4 Jan 2026 / Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague. The only and first Dutch museum focusing exclusively on sculpture by modern and contemporary masters, presents an unexpected dialogue between the works of British visual artist Ryan Gander (1976) and French painter and sculptor Edgar Degas (1834–1917). Gander has been working on a conceptual series since 2008, reinterpreting Degas’ La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans, depicting the ballerina in various scenarios, as if she is escaping her pedestal. Gander’s 21 ballerinas will be displayed together for the first time, with Degas’ young dancer.
- CUTE / 5 July – 23 November 2025 / Kunsthal Rotterdam. If you missed this sweet show at Somerset House, here’s your chance to enjoy the power of cuteness in contemporary culture. The exhibition asks How could something so charming — big eyes, chubby cheeks, flowers, and sweets — become so influential? And I want the answers! (I feel so seen, yet, so undiscovered!) Got to catch this one!
- Lois Dodd – Framing the Ephemeral / 30 Aug 2025 – 04 Jan 2026 / Kunstmuseum Den Haag. The first ever European retrospective presenting the work of Lois Dodd (1927), showing ninety large scale works, many of which have never been exhibited before. Lois Dodd is a significant figure in post-war art in the US, working alongside Alex Katz and Willem de Kooning, though recognition is late, having had her first major institutional exhibition in 2012 at age 84. Dodd is inspired by Mondrians early landscapes as well as the more geometric works, referring to her own windows as ‘Mondrian Constructions’.
- Iris van Herpen – Sculpting the Senses / 27 Sept 2025 – 2 Mar 2026 / Kunsthal Rotterdam. Paying homage to the famous Dutch fashion designer, more than a hundred iconic creations with be presented in this retrospective, bringing together fashion, contemporary art, design, and science for a sensory exploration of Van Herpen’s universe.
- FENIX, Rotterdam. Opening in May 2025, the first museum to explore migration. The inaugural collection exhibition, All Directions: Art That Moves You, will showcase 150 artworks and objects ranging from the historical to the contemporary, drawn from the museums and acquired over the past five years. Fenix will also present The Family of Migrants, an exhibition inspired by Edward Steichen’s Family of Man, one of the most famous photographic exhibitions of all time, which was presented at MoMA in 1955. Fenix’s extensive exhibition will feature 194 photographs from 55 countries taken by 136 photographers. Photographers featured include Dorothea Lange, Chien-Chi Chang, Fouad Elkoury and Sergey Ponomarev.
- National Museum of Photography, Rotterdam. Opening in the second half of 2025 the Santos building, a historic landmark eight-storey warehouse in the heart of Rotterdam’s dock area, will become the state-of-the-art home for the Dutch national collection of over 6.5 million photographic images. The collection presents an ever-growing record of Dutch photographic history, from the earliest daguerreotype dated 1842 to prints by some of the most exciting contemporary photographers.
- Drift Museum, Amsterdam. Opening in 2025, in the historical factory halls of Van Gendt Hallen, Oostenburg, at the eastern part of the city centre of Amsterdam. These five industrial factory halls were built between 1898 and 1905 to produce steam trains, after standing empty for years, the buildings are being preserved and restored, to create a 20,000 m2 future-proof, sustainable and energy-neutral national monument. The Drift Museum will take up two of the halls. The other halls will house sports activities, restaurants, offices and start-ups. The founders of DRIFT have been working at the intersection of art and technology since 2007, creating large-scale, technologically advanced and performative artworks.
I was a guest of, and travelled with, Visit Netherlands, along with a small group of lovely journalists. As always, my opinions are my own (and my croissant consumption capabilities, still at championship level!)
If you’d like to keep up with what I’m up to work-wise (talks, events, exhibitions, portfolio reviews – that kind of stuff), you can find my Agenda on my website, for occasional updates in your inbox, join my Mailing List, and for daily bits and bobs, follow me on Instagram.