Willem de Kooning at work

One hundred years after Willem de Kooning left Rotterdam for a new life in New York, Rijksmuseum brings de Kooning back to the Netherlands with Willem de Kooning at work, the largest exhibition in Europe devoted to the Master in over 40 years. About Featuring more than 120 works, Rijksmuseum’s landmark exhibition is a comprehensive overview of his drawn works, complemented by a selection of de Kooning’s most celebrated paintings and sculptures. The drawings trace the development of a modern master who changed art forever, offering unprecedented insight into the practice of an artist in constant search of renewal. Alongside the exhibition, two of de Kooning’s most iconic paintings – Woman I and Woman and Bicycle – will be displayed concurrently in the Rijksmuseum’s Gallery of Honour, placing de Kooning among the great masters of Dutch painting. Willem de Kooning at work will be on view from 9 October 2026 through 17 January 2027 and is developed in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago and The Willem de Kooning Foundation in New York. The exhibition is made possible in part by The Willem de Kooning Foundation, The Friends Lottery, Ammodo Art, Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne, Blockbusterfonds, Rijksmuseum International Circle, Rijksmuseum Friends and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Read more Toggle Painting