Exhibitions from the past

Top Ten on Tour

Masterpieces acquired for the Netherlands thanks to the BankGiro Lottery

4 - 27 November at the Fries museum in Leeuwarden

From 4 October 2017 through 25 March 2018 the Kröller-Müller Museum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum and the Mauritshuis will send ten masterpieces on tour to various museums in the Netherlands.

The exhibition Top Ten on Tour: Masterpieces acquired for the Netherlands thanks to the BankGiro Lottery will feature works by renowned artists such as Rembrandt, Appel, Steen, Monet, and Picasso. All ten artworks are major acquisitions from the period 1999-2016 and were purchased thanks to the support from the participants of the BankGiro Lottery and other individuals, funds, businesses, and public money. A tour of outstanding examples of major acquisitions that were only made possible thanks to this financial support.

Pop-up presentatie

Top Ten Pieces on Tour: Masterpieces acquired for the Netherlands thanks to the BankGiro Lottery has the air of a pop-up exhibition; the artworks will travel to six different museums in the Netherlands and will be exhibited for three weeks at each venue. The presentation starts on 4 October at the Mauritshuis in The Hague and will then travel to the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden, TwentseWelle at the Rijksmuseum Twenthe in Enschede, the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo. The tour will finish in March 2018 at the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht. In this way, we will reach the Dutch public in six different provinces.

Paul Signac, Het ‘Ponton de la Félicité’ bij Asnières (Opus nr. 143), 1886. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. Aankoop met steun van de BankGiro Loterij, de Vereniging Rembrandt, mede dankzij haar Claude Monet Fonds, Het Liesbeth van Dorp Fonds en Themafonds 19de-eeuwse Schilderkunst, het Mondriaan Fonds en de leden van The Yellow House, 2016.
Paul Signac, The ‘Ponton de la Félicité’ bij Asnières (Opus nr. 143), 1886. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. Purchased with support from the BankGiro Lottery, the Rembrandt Association, with the additional support of her Claude Monet Fonds, Het Liesbeth van Dorp Fonds and Themafonds 19de-eeuwse Schilderkunst, the Mondriaan Fund, and the members of The Yellow House, 2016.

Visitors can look forward to an eclectic group of artworks. The selection includes seventeenth-century paintings such as the iconic Adolf and Catharina Croeser, Known as ‘The Burgomaster of Delft and his Daughter’ by Steen from the Rijksmuseum. The Mauritshuis will contribute View of Bentheim Castle by Jacob van Ruisdael and Portrait of an Old Man by Rembrandt. Later works such as the characteristic Windmills at Zaandam by Monet from the Van Gogh Museum, the sculpture Petite Chouette by Picasso from the Kröller-Müller Museum and The Square Man by Appel from the Rijksmuseum will also be part of the presentation.

Vital Contribution for Museums

The financial support that museums receive from individuals for acquisitions is an uncelebrated yet essential fact. New additions ensure that collections keep developing, because even a single good work can breathe new life into a collection. Acquisitions also ensure that important artworks are cared for and remain visible to the Dutch public for the future. It is thanks to the generous support from the BankGiro Lottery participants (the cultural lottery of the Netherlands) and funds such as the Rembrandt Association, the VSBfonds, Friends Associations, and public funds through the Mondriaan Fund that museums in the Netherlands can keep purchasing important artworks.

Jan Steen, Adolf en Catharina Croeser, bekend als ‘De burgemeester van Delft en zijn dochter’, 1655. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Aankoop met steun van het Mondriaan Fonds samen met het Nationaal Aankoopfonds van het Ministerie van OCW, de BankGiro Loterij, de Stichting Nationaal Fonds Kunstbezit, het VSBfonds, de Vereniging Rembrandt, mede dankzij het Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds en het Rijksmuseum Fonds, 2004
Jan Steen, Adolf and Catharina Croeser, Known as ‘The Burgomaster of Delft and his Daughter’, 1655. Purchased with the support of the Mondriaan Fund, the Nationaal Aankoopfonds of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the BankGiro Lottery, the Stichting Nationaal Fonds Kunstbezit, the VSBfonds, the Rembrandt Association, with additional funding from the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds and the Rijksmuseum Fonds, 2004

Museums consider acquisitions carefully, and only purchase works that are rare, and therefore often expensive. When the opportunity arises for a purchase, we must react quickly and adequately, or we might miss an opportunity. The four museums, Kröller-Müller Museum, Van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum and Mauritshuis receive a combined substantial annual amount of about € 7.5 million for purchases, thanks to the participants in the BankGiro Lottery. This contribution from the BankGiro Lottery is unique and of crucial importance. Not only does it offer a good basis to raise additional funds, but because the funds can be saved from year to year, museums can finance new purchases relatively quickly.

Tour schedule


Venues		 Start Finish
Mauritshuis
The Hague		 4 October 2017 29 October 2017
Fries Museum
Leeuwarden		 4 November 2017 26 November 2017
TwentseWelle/Rijksmuseum Twenthe
Enschede		 2 December 2017 31 December 2017
Van Abbemuseum
Eindhoven		 6 January 2018 28 January 2018
Kröller-Müller Museum
Otterlo		 3 February 2018 25 February 2018
Bonnefantenmuseum
Maastricht		 3 March 2018 25 March 2018
Pablo Picasso, Petite chouette, 1951-1953. Collectie Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo. © Pablo Picasso c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2017. Verworven met steun van de BankGiro Loterij, het Mondriaan Fonds en de Vereniging Rembrandt, mede dankzij het Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, 2004
Pablo Picasso, Petite chouette, 1951-1953. Collection Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo. © Pablo Picasso c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2017. Purchased with support from the BankGiro Lottery, the Mondriaan Fund and the Rembrandt Association, partly thanks to the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, 2004