Rijksmuseum Art Connoisseur Guided Tour

Starting at the Cobra Cafe at Museumplein, you’ll meet your guide and receive your all-day ticket to the Rijksmuseum. When the tour starts, you’ll head straight to the museum, where more than 8,000 stunning works of art await. Your guide will have a selection of specific pieces to stop and see, such as Rembrandt’s portraits and his classic oil painting, ‘The Night Watch,’ and access to the Pierre Cuypers Library. As you stop in front of carefully selected works from the Dutch Golden Age, your guide will take you through the history of the piece, its significance, and how the Dutch art market became the biggest in the world. This tour highlights the creativity of the period and the cultural influences that led to such revered portraits. After you’ve seen the individual pieces indicated by the tour guide, your all-day ticket allows you to explore the museum alone, grab a bite at the museum cafe, or pick up some mementos from the on-site shop.

Rijksmuseum Art Connoisseur Guided Tour

Your 2-hour tour of the Rijksmuseum includes:

• All-day entry into the Rijksmuseum

• Access to timeless art from the Dutch Golden Age

• Historical and cultural context for selected pieces

• Access to the Pierre Cuypers Library

• English-speaking professional tour guide

From Cafe to Museum

From the Cobra Cafe at Museumplein, where your guide will be waiting, you’ll go directly to the Rijksmuseum. Almost instantly, you’ll be immersed in the wonderful displays of the Dutch Golden Age, starting with the museum’s distinct architecture. Your guide will have plenty to say about the period that inspired the elaborate and stately Dutch design. The museum houses art from renowned artists of the Dutch Golden Age, and each piece is crafted in unique styles.

Rembrandt, Vermeer, Steen, and More

Rebrandt’s ‘The Night Watch’ is one of the museum’s most notable oil paintings, but it’s only one in a collection of thousands. While you won’t see all 8,000-plus displays with your tour, you will catch memorable compositions like Ferdinand Bol’s self-portrait, Jan Steen’s family interiors, and Vermeer’s ‘The Milkmaid.”

As you’re admiring each artist’s creation, your expert guide will recount how the Dutch Republic became the hub for a middle-class art renaissance. They’ll share the historical and social context that further explains how regional creativity blossomed into one of the biggest markets for artists in the world.

A Hint of Historical Treasures

The artwork isn’t the only display worth admiring at the Rijksmuseum. Your tour will come across 17th-century delftware, an assortment of pottery typically presented with a blue and white motif that originated around the 1600s. This collection offers a depiction of Dutch culture, almost as much as the 17th-century dollhouse displayed at the Rijksmuseum. These items carry stories of the past, relayed via your tour guide.

One of the focal attractions of the tour is the Cuypers Library, named for Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers. Known for being the oldest and largest art historical library in the Netherlands, the multi-level Cuypers Library is full of texts from throughout Dutch history.

All-Day Access to the Museum

When the tour concludes, it doesn’t return to the cafe. It remains in the museum, and with your all-day pass, you’re free to continue exploring the museum alone. Though you will see a lot during your art tour at the Rijksmuseum, there are thousands of pieces of art to observe. You’re free to see as much as possible before closing or visit the on-site cafe to grab a bite before returning to your exploration of the museum. If you want to take a piece of the experience home with you, the museum has a shop with art-inspired gifts and items to purchase.