Cultural tips for Amsterdam this spring

ART & EXHIBITIONS

Samuel van Hoogstraten: The Art of Illusion at Rembrandt House Museum

In collaboration with Rembrandt House Museum

Tracing the legacy of one of Rembrandt’s most experimental and inventive pupils, Samuel van Hoogstraten: The Art of Illusion illuminates the career of this lesser-known 17th-century pioneer. With his unbelievably life-like paintings, Hoogstraten blurred the lines between art and reality, producing works so convincing they once fooled an emperor. Discover the skill of this master illusionist in the very space where he learned his craft.

Samuel van Hoogstraten: The Art of Illusion | 1 March - 4 May 2025 | Rembrandt House Museum

Amsterdam Art Week

An essential date for art lovers, Amsterdam Art Week, is the place to discover what the capital offers in contemporary art. In its 13th edition, Amsterdam Art Week transforms the city into an international meeting place for art enthusiasts, collectors, and emerging and renowned artists. Discover the latest developments and debates at more than 50 participating galleries, project spaces, museums, and residencies dotted around the city’s top independent galleries and contemporary art spaces for five days.

Amsterdam Art Week | 21 - 25 May 2025, various locations

ARTZUID Biennale

The ninth edition of Amsterdam's renowned sculpture biennale, ARTZUID, will feature 60 outdoor artworks along a picturesque five-kilometre path. Right in the heart of iconic Dutch architect Berlage's expansive Plan Zuid –which spans the tree-lined boulevards of the Apollolaan, the Minervalaan and the Churchilllaan –the exhibit will display works curated by prominent names such as Rudi Fuchs and Roberto Meyer. Celebrating the beauty of outdoor sculpture and the surrounding landscape, ARTZUID is a public art experience like no other.

ARTZUID | 17 May - 21 September, various locations

CONCERTS & CLUBBING

Festival season

Amsterdam’s music festival season opens in mid-April with DGTL, a three-day event dedicated to underground electronic music, which takes place at the NDSM Docklands. Next up is Awakenings, the country’s most legendary techno event, which will return to the stunning Spaarnwoude Park this year with another exceptional line-up full of surprises and special guests. Later, Lente Kabinet (the little sister festival to Dekmantel) unfolds in the stunning surroundings of Het Twiske, simultaneously with the Amsterdam Open Air Festival, which lights up the stunning Gaasperpark with a versatile agenda of electronic music, pop, Latin and Afro genres across ten stages.

DGTL | 18-20 April 2025, NDSM DocklandsAwakenings Up Close | 17-18 May 2025, Spaarnwoude ParkLente Kabinet | 7-8 June 2025, Het TwiskeAmsterdam Open Air | 7-8 June 2025, Gaasperpark

Mahler Festival

A true highlight of the Royal Concertgebouw’s agenda, Mahler Festival brings together world-class orchestras and conductors for a transcendent exploration of the great composer's body of work. Over 10 days, Mahler's symphonies will be performed chronologically, taking audiences on a journey through his life and work. Highlights include the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s stirring rendition of Symphony No. 2 under Iván Fischer, and Lorenzo Viotti’s Mahler’s Favourites, which offers an intimate glimpse into Mahler’s personal musical passions.

Mahler Festival | 9 – 18 May | Concertgebouw

Record Store Day

This annual event honours Amsterdam’s independent record stores, with many special vinyl releases and in-store performances across the city. Spend the Saturday hopping between stores, digging for never-before-released gems, new songs, remixes and more unique items. Various shop floors will be turned into intimate stages, with more than 250 performances throughout the day.

Record Store Day | 12 April 2025, various locations

THEATRE & STAGE

Opera Forward Festival

Returning with a week-long program of bold and exploratory performances and talks, Opera Forward Festival (OFF) represents the best of operatic innovation. Among the program’s highlights is the poignant We Are The Lucky Ones, a musical portrait of a generation born between 1940 and 1949. Based on over seventy interviews, the opera reflects on the memories and struggles of these individuals as society shifts around them.

Opera Forward Festival | 14 - 23 March 2025, various locations

FESTIVALS & EVENTS

National holidays

Spring in the Netherlands is packed full of national holidays. On King's Day (26 April 2025)*, over a million orange-clad revellers descend onto the streets and canals for markets, parties and family events across the city. A few weeks later, Amsterdam’s citizens will pause to pay their respects to civilians and members of the armed forces who have died in conflicts (4 May) with a national Remembrance Day ceremony at Dam Square. Then it's time for a national party (5 May), as the crowds take to the streets to celebrate the liberation of the Netherlands (Bevrijdingsdag) at the end of World War II.

• Because King's Day falls on a Sunday, in 2025, the day will be celebrated on Saturday, 26 April.

CINEMA & FILM

Kaboom Animation Festival

A dreamy two-day festival that celebrates the animated world in all its forms and colours, Kaboom is for animation lovers and makers alike, with award-winning shorts and feature-length films on show. The festival also runs a competition for best animated films.

Kaboom Animation Festival | 21-30 March 2025, Eye Filmmuseum

Roze Filmdagen

Amsterdam’s annual queer film festival returns in March, celebrating pioneering cinema, actors and directors from the community. The longest-running and largest LGBTQI+ film festival in the Netherlands, expect everything from shorts to documentaries, panel talks, and in-depth analysis, all within the industrial but cosy confines of Westerpark’s Het Ketelhuis.

Roze Filmdagen (Pink Film Days) | 9-30 March 2025, Het Ketelhuis and Westergasterrein