Whistler. Dandy and Disruptor

Now showing16 October 2026 – 10 January 2027€25

The first retrospective in the Netherlands devoted to James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903): painter, printmaker, aesthete and enfant terrible.

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On now All of October 2026

Look at the frames as well as the paintings. Whistler designed some himself, and the Lost Painters reviewer spotted a few where the pattern stops short: on one 1875 Nocturne it misses a corner. You won't catch that in a reproduction.

Amsterdam's version, made with Tate, has some 100 works: Whistler's Mother herself, lent by the Musée d'Orsay, the Thames nocturnes, the White Girls series and life-sized society portraits. You can read what Vincent wrote to his sister about that portrait: "When I think of Mother she too appears like that to me." One loan, Effie Deans, only had to cross Museumplein from the Rijksmuseum.

The same reviewer said the etchings alone justify the visit. His one complaint is the light: the rooms are dim, and spotlights sometimes glare off the big canvases. It's included in the museum ticket (€25, €26 from January, under-18s free), with timed entry booked online and an audio tour you can add when you book. Fridays run until 21:00.

Editor's pick

Whistler's Mother comes from the Musée d'Orsay and the White House Nocturne from Washington, among about 100 works. Lost Painters said the etchings alone justify the visit, but found the rooms too dim for the grey canvases.

Look for

Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother
Anna Whistler sits in black against grey on a canvas over 1.6 metres wide; the Guardian called her face "rigid, lightless and cold".
The White House Nocturne
A night view of the Thames from 1875 to 1878 that normally hangs in the White House's Treaty Room and seldom leaves Washington.
The Thames nocturnes
Look for the night views of the river, among them Nocturne: Blue and Silver, Chelsea, lent by Tate.
Portrait of George W. Vanderbilt
One of the life-sized society portraits: the American millionaire painted on a canvas more than two metres tall.
Arrangement in Yellow and Gray: Effie Deans
A near two-metre full-length figure in yellow and grey, lent by the Rijksmuseum across the square.