An exceptional donation from the Don Quixote Foundation will enable the Rijksmuseum to enrich the city of Amsterdam with a public sculpture garden of international stature.
Artist Impression of the planned Rijksmuseum sculpture garden. Image: Foster + Partners
In this green space with three pavilions, visitors will enjoy sculptures by world-renowned artists, including Alberto Giacometti, Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Jean Arp, Roni Horn, and Henry Moore. The new garden will also host temporary sculpture exhibitions. The Don Quixote Foundation is donating €60 million to fund the development of the new site. It is also giving a large number of sculptures on long-term loan to the Rijksmuseum. The museum’s new exhibition space will be known as the Don Quixote Pavilion and Garden at the Rijksmuseum.
Femke Halsema, Mayor of Amsterdam, said:
“This is a wonderful gift for everyone in Amsterdam. Local residents, city dwellers and art lovers will soon be enjoying the tranquil natural surroundings and artistic beauty.”
Taco Dibbits, General Director of the Rijksmuseum, said:
“This is a donation of historic significance, and a historic moment for the Rijksmuseum. It will give modern sculpture the visibility it deserves. It also marks an unprecedented enhancement of the Rijksmuseum’s collection of 20th-century art.”
The sculpture garden will be situated just a stone’s throw from the Rijksmuseum, at the intersection of Boerenwetering, Ruysdaelkade and Stadhouderskade. Three existing pavilions and their adjoining gardens will be merged with Carel Willinkplantsoen to form a single sculpture garden. The pavilions, built in the Amsterdam School style, will be open to the public for the first time. These buildings will be transformed into sculpture exhibition spaces designed by the London firm Foster + Partners. The garden itself will be designed by the Belgian landscape architect Piet Blanckaert.
In addition to the outstanding sculptures, more space will be made for trees and plants. Twenty-two new mature trees and a wider variety of native flowers and plants will contribute to increased biodiversity in the city. The main entrance to the sculpture garden will be located on Stadhouderskade. Visitors will be able to access the sculpture garden free of charge during the day. Exact opening hours will be determined in consultation with the municipality and local residents.
The Don Quixote Foundation is the Rijksmuseum’s largest private benefactor. It has supported the annual sculpture exhibition in the Rijksmuseum Gardens since the museum reopened in 2013, ensuring admission to the exhibitions remains free. Thanks to an additional donation of 12.5 million euros in 2023, the foundation has enabled the continued staging of exhibitions in the Rijksmuseum Gardens. In 2017, the foundation gave the unique flora and fauna albums of Anselmus de Boodt—containing more than 700 16th-century watercolours and drawings —to the museum on long-term loan. The foundation also supported the Rijksmuseum’s 2022 exhibition Crawly Creature
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Mark Westall
Mark Westall is the Founder and Editor of FAD magazine –
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