Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen

A museum with a difference By Georgia Tindale

Located in the tourist hotspot of Museumpark, just a ten-minute walk away from Rotterdam Central Station, is the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen: the world’s first-ever publicly accessible art storage facility which opened its doors to the public in November 2021.

Different from a museum in its layout and dynamic, the Depot contains no formal exhibitions. Instead, for an admission price of €20 (tickets to be purchased online), guests can wander at their own pace, either alone or with a guide, surrounded by a grand total of 151,000 artworks – the result of 173 years of dedicated collecting.

These are housed across a total of six floors in fourteen storage compartments with five different climates made suitable for organic material, plastic, paper, metal, black and white and colour photography respectively. As one might expect from a collection so vast, the artworks cover a huge range of subjects, time periods and styles, spanning a period from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, and are stored, organised and displayed based on their size and conservation requirements, not on the basis of the artist or theme. Headline names in the collection include Magritte and Dalí – and, of course, Rembrandt and Van Gogh.

In this way, each visitor has the unique opportunity and freedom to create and curate their own experience by discovering the artworks for themselves. In addition, they can also watch the museum’s art restorers as they work and learn what it takes to maintain a collection as vast as this one.

‘IN THIS WAY, EACH VISITOR HAS THE UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM TO CREATE AND CURATE THEIR OWN EXPERIENCE BY DISCOVERING THE ARTWORKS FOR THEMSELVES.’

In a typical museum, as little as six to ten per cent of its collection will be on display at any one time, with the remaining 90-plus per cent hidden in storage. Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen is breaking with this tradition of concealment, bringing all of these invisible artefacts to the light of day.

An eye-catching design on the Rotterdam skyline, the striking bowl-shaped Depot was designed by Winy Maas, the Dutch-born co-founder of the architecture firm MVRDV. The exterior of the building is made from 1,664 curved mirrors, measuring 40 metres in diameter at its base and expanding to 60 metres at the top. Finally, if you’re in Rotterdam and are just looking for a breathtaking view without any education, you can also skip the museum part and visit the restaurant, roof garden and panoramic view on the sixth floor (approximately 35 metres), which can be accessed without purchasing an entrance ticket from 6pm.

Perfect for escaping the hustle and bustle of city life, the rooftop garden is home to 75 multi-stemmed birch trees and 20 pine trees – offering a true oasis for those keen to take time away from the stresses and strains of the everyday.

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