Culture
Eye Filmmuseum, Noord
Take the three-minute-long GVB ferry from behind Centraal Station to Delugan Meissl Associated Architects’s angular white building on the bank of the IJ. One of Europe’s great film archives, it runs a rotating programme of retrospectives, restorations, new releases and exhibitions. The bar has excellent city views; the terrace on a summer evening is one of the finest spots in Amsterdam. Eye is also one of the host venues for the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, held every November.
Rijksmuseum, Oud-Zuid
There is no finer survey of the Dutch golden age than the Rijksmuseum. Visit on weekdays when crowds are manageable and head to the Gallery of Honour to see Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch”, then work backwards through Vermeer and Frans Hals. The building – a Petrus Josephus Hubertus Cuypers neo-renaissance structure updated in 2013 with an atrium by Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos – and the gardens are masterpieces in themselves.
Foam Photography Museum, Centrum
These three interconnected canal houses are dedicated to world-class photography. Foam frames emerging talent alongside Magnum members and major retrospectives – past shows include Anton Corbijn, Viviane Sassen and Zanele Muholi. The exhibitions here are often more interesting than those at larger institutions, and we highly recommend that you exit through the bookshop.
Cinema The Pulse, Zuidas
A consortium of local cinephiles opened this film house in a sustainable mixed-use tower at the edge of the Zuidas business district. The Pulse has nine screens, a programme that mixes arthouse and mainstream titles, cinema-on-demand private screening rooms and bar-restaurant Lucy, which is a draw in its own right.
Hartwig Proxy, Zuidas
The Hartwig Art Foundation is currently building a contemporary-art museum in a former brutalist courthouse on the Parnassusweg. Designed by OMA, the institution is expected to open in 2028. Hartwig Proxy is the testing ground across the street. The open space hosts exhibitions, guest-chef lunches, commissions from the likes of MacArthur fellow Wu Tsang, and collaborations with New York-based performance art festival Performa.
